


Life After Death

by Kiddi



Category: 6 Underground (2019)
Genre: Action, Backstory, Dark Past, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hook-Up, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Italian Mafia, Loss of Identity, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Non-Graphic Smut, Non-Graphic Violence, One Night Stands, One isnt a huge dick in this, Pining, Post-Canon, Resolved Sexual Tension, Romance, Secret Relationship, Self-Doubt, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Stabbing, Strangers to Lovers, Swearing, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, anne is bad at feelings too, billy is bad at feelings, it honestly just revolves around my two idiots, it takes a while for them to even kiss, its honestly more than one night but shh, its not that bad, mutual flirting, theres more than one but, they dont come up though, this happened because I got carried away and might have been projected, this isnt gonna be amazing yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 26,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22109173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiddi/pseuds/Kiddi
Summary: If you could have a second chance at life, even if it meant you would need to die, would you take it?For most people that answer doesn't matter but it's not the case for Anne.In a bad situation with a shady crime family, she's approached by the billionaire who calls himself One, and gets posed the same question.Desperate, injured and with no want for life, she agrees and Eight is born.From that point on who she was doesn't matter, she planned on doing some good in the world and that's it, she didn't expect to meet a boy and for her to start falling for him as hard as she does and for old wounds to be brought back up.So much for leaving behind her past.
Relationships: Four | Billy (6 Underground)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 43





	1. A Life For A Life

**Author's Note:**

> I'm no the best at summaries but I hope you enjoy the story, this was a little idea that spiralled way out of control and here we are.  
> I wanna give a HUGE thank you to two friends of mine, Danielle and Joey for putting up with my shit as I sent them snippets to check over, you guys are the best!!
> 
> Enjoy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne meets a mysterious man who offers her a deal too good to be true

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right! so this fic is going to vary in length as the chapters go on, some will be fairly long and others will be the opposite so if you want to read this with 'entire work' selected I wouldnt blame you lol
> 
> Enjoy and a very special thanks to my friends Danielle and Joey for helping me out with all of this

The outside air blew through the open window and rustled the curtains, the room was plain, generic and only illuminated by the cold white light of the adjoining bathroom.  
It smelled like a hospital, the fumes from the disinfectants on the countertop mixed with the stench of blood from the wrappings in the sink.  
“Motherfucker”  
Anne hissed as she poured some hydrogen peroxide into a cut on her leg, wrapping it up tightly and quickly. Leaning back against the cool tile wall of her bathroom she moved her hair from her face where it had fallen from her hastily tied up bun, she let her head fall to the side and looked at the mirror sneering at her reflection, skin painted with dried up blood and the white bandages spotting up with blood as her body fought to close the wounds; this wasn't the first time she’d been like this, this happens fairly often, but this time they went too far with the punishment.  
Lost in thoughts she didn't hear anyone come in through the window until a man's voice filled the space.  
“Jesus, this place is depressing and you...they did a number on you this time didn't they?”  
Anne had a gun pointed at him as fast as she could but the man now peeking his head into the bathroom didn't seem very phased by it in the slightest.  
“Who are you?”  
“That's not important, I want to offer you a deal, Anne.”  
“How do you know my name?!” She asked more agitated and alarmed, who was this man, how did he know her?  
“Like I said, not important, I know what the Camorra have you doing and I want to offer you a spot on my own team.”  
“Why the fuck should I listen to you?” she spat “ How do I know you're not here as a test?”  
“You don't, that's where you gotta trust me” he smiled sweetly as if he wasn’t on the bad end of the gun “I’m here to offer you a chance at a new life, with a new team where no one knows anything about you unless you tell them and if something goes wrong you won't be punished for it.”  
This is too good to be true, she thought, but what the stranger was offering her was tempting and if it was a test then she’d get killed and honestly she rather that, than spend more time in Germany working for these people.  
She dropped the gun and stood up from her spot on the bathtub edge.  
“Fine, you have a deal, what's the catch?”  
“How do you know there's a catch?”  
“I’m not stupid, there's always a catch, what is it, money?”  
He laughed loudly, startling her into almost dropping the gun.  
“No,” he said between laughs “you just gotta die..well not really die, more like fake it but you can’t exist, you have to become a ghost.”  
He smiled at her and she seriously started debating if she could take her agreement back.

––––––––––––––––––  
It had only been a week since she had died and now she stood with the same man from her apartment —One, as she learned soon after their meeting— watching her funeral, it was a weird feeling to see the people that had tormented her for years cry over her.  
“Man, you really had a lot of people who cared about you.” One said from beside her.  
“No, they didn't really care for me, they’re just sad they don't have a punching bag or a planner anymore.” She said, cold and cruel in her tone.  
“Even Two was remorseful at her funeral, what did they do to you in there, kid?” One asked mainly to himself but Anne let out a chuckle nonetheless.  
“I don't feel bad for anyone down there, they used me my whole life and the person that should care, isn't even here so...what's the point?”  
“Fair point, let's get going then we have a long flight back to California.”  
Anne nodded and watched him walk away, taking one last long look at the funeral, she turned away and smiled to herself, now finally feeling free from anything that had her shackled to Germany, finally she and a new life.  
––––––––––––––––––  
The flight was almost 12 hours which is by far the longest flight she’d ever been on, usually, when she had to fly out it was close, the furthest she’s ever flown was to Russia, she’d never returned to the United States ever since she was sold out by her father.  
Anne shook her head a little bit to clear her thoughts as the plane finished its ascent and she was cleared to walk about the cabin as she saw fit. One was flying the plane and as he requested she made her way over to the cockpit.  
Knocking on the door twice she entered and sat herself down in the co-pilot seat next to him, looking out at the sun setting over the clouds.  
“What did you want to talk to me about?”  
“Just to tell you what you just signed up for.” He said in a cryptic sounding voice  
“And what exactly is that, One?”  
“I want you to do what you're good at, make maps and make plans. I have a team of five others just like you, recruited for their skills, and while they’re good, the last mission we ran was an absolute shit show because while we had a plan, we didn't have someone to get us out when that plan fell to pieces.”  
She nodded at him and kept looking out at the sky, letting his words sink into her, he has a team, they’ve done ‘missions’ and their last one was a mess...what exactly did they do?  
“I presume that's where I come in. You want me to make or access maps and plan out your missions for you?” she asked as simple as if he were asking her to get milk  
“Yes exactly, but with the added task of monitoring us and getting us out if anything doesn't go to plan...because with my team something always goes wrong.”  
“Trust me, I can do that just fine, I have enough experience dealing with teams of people who don't know what they're doing or that don't listen.” She replied and nodded finally looking back over at him.  
“What do you need to be able to do your job?”  
“I need a day or two to make or find a map and make a plan, something to be able to track you and your team with and either a base of operations or a mobile screen that I can use to manually guide you guys out.”  
“I can do that, you can go back to the cabin and get some rest, it'll be early when we arrive in California and I don't want you jetlagged.”  
With that, she nodded, stood up and said a quick and curt thank you before leaving the cockpit to get some sleep until they landed.  
Anne grabbed her backpack with her essentials and took out a bottle of pills, and a water bottle.  
She sat down in her seat took out two small capsules from the bottle and took them with water, she got comfortable and waited for them to slowly take effect and drag her under into a deep and peaceful sleep.  
––––––––––––––––––  
“Come on princess, wake up, we’re here.”  
Anne slowly opened her eyes and slowly stood up from her position on the chair, groaning as her joints ached at the sudden stretch from being in one position for so long.  
“Ah, that's how you stayed asleep for so long.” One mused as he caught sight of her tucking away her sleeping pills and water into her bag. She looked up and glared at him, One put his hands up in mock surrender.  
“Hey I'm not judging you, you gotta do what you need to get a solid sleep sometimes, come on let's get going we have a team to meet.” he paused and looked at her outfit, different from the one she was wearing when they boarded. “Glad you took my advice and changed into something lighter, come on.” He said and stepped off the plane, Anne following after him.

They were in what looked like a plane graveyard, her eyes squinted at the hot blaring sun as he looked around at her surroundings trying to gain some sort of grounding for where they were but she’d never been to this place so she was completely lost as to where exactly they were.  
They soon came to a plane with a ghost decal on the side and Anne had to hold out a laugh at the irony of their team name and where One chose his base of operations.  
Entering the plane she was greeted with five others sitting around a table, heads all snapping up to them as they entered the plane, her skin crawling with the feeling of being watched and analyzed by people she didn't even know.  
“Ghosts, this is your new team member, Eight” Once announced to them “She was chosen because she has a knack for making maps, plans and improvising on the spot...treat her nicely.” With those last words, One left, saying something about needing to take care of something, leaving Anne completely alone with the five strangers.  
One of them stood up and walked over to shake her hand, he was much taller than her, had dark skin but he looked really nice.  
“I’m Seven, or Blaine.” he greeted and she nodded.  
“Nice to meet you, Blaine, I’m Anne,” she replied softly, nervous.  
Blaine nodded and turned to the others pointing as he said names.  
“That's Two,”  
“Camille” the lady— Camille— said she was french judging from her speech  
“Three”  
“Javier” definitely from somewhere in South America  
“Four”  
“Billy” English, but not from London, maybe from the north but definitely good looking  
“And Five”  
“Amelia” American but her family likely wasn't  
“Welcome to the team Anne,” Blain said and clapped a hand to her shoulder. She smiled back much more comfortable and nodded.  
“Thank you, do you...mind if I join you?”  
She asked and was very quickly pushed towards the table and on closer inspection, they were playing...scrabble, what kind of team as this exactly? Well, it's not like it really mattered now anyways, she was already a part of it but...it didn't seem like she would mind that much.

She spent some time with the group just chatting and getting to know them, Camille and Javier were in a relationship and were the most adorable thing ever but she mostly heard about their previous missions and how they were the ones behind the coupe in Turgistan, she heard about it through the grapevine with the mafia as well as through the news and she honestly cannot imagine in what way that mission went wrong because even if it did they could have fucked it all up but she didn't really press them on it.  
It was almost an hour after they had landed wen One peaked his head into the room and called her back with him, saying that they need to talk. Anne nodded and followed him back to a room with a desk and a wall of monitors behind it, One’s office.  
“Looks like you're getting along well with the others.” he hummed and slid over an envelope to her.  
“Yea, they're all really nice to be around” she smiled and opened the envelope “what's this?”  
“A key to your apartment, car, credit cards and key to a safe in the apartment to keep any sensitive documents I give you in the future, your stuff is already there and you have a few days to get mostly settled in then you're gonna do a warm-up mission so the team can see what you can do.”  
Anne nodded and tucked everything back inside the envelope, a warm-up mission.  
“Thank you, One.” She said and tucked the envelope away in her bag.  
“No problem kid, you can go.”  
She nodded and left the room making her way back to the others explaining what she was given then going back to their game of scrabble.


	2. Home Sweet Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again.  
> Anything in italics from here on out is either a nonverbal conversation like a text or talking over comms or the phone

Her apartment was just like the one back in Germany, plain and cold but this one didn't feel like a prison, she knew she could make it home because now she wasn't forced to be there, she chose.

Anne took some time to set her stuff up in her apartment but even now it looked so much more than her old one did, it looked warm, bright and inviting, she hung up photos on the wall and was given flowers and a pie from her nice elderly neighbour on her left as a welcome to the building gift, this place was nice, and she finally felt at home for the first time in an incredulously long time.

A week had almost gone by before One told them that they were going on a mini-mission so that the team can get the first-hand experience with her work. The mission: steal a piece of counterfeit artwork that would be hung in a new exhibit at a famous gallery.  
One gave her two days to get everything together before the mission and that was more than enough time for her to make a plan.  
Anne spent the rest of that night finding maps of the gallery, converting them into digital models and fiddling around with the trackers One sent over and their software until she had them working just how she liked.  
The next day she spent in the gallery posing as an art student, she took notes of the guard movements, where they were and weren't as well as where the cameras were and weren't and what they could and couldn't see, the gallery was guarded well by cameras but those could just as easily be tricked, there weren't any actual guards in the exhibit room as it was closed off and not due to be opened for a few days, she didn't know if the cameras were working but she had to be safe and assume they were.  
The second day rolled around and Anne gathered the team together on the plane and started breaking down that plan she had made.  
“Alright, this place doesn't have human guards at the exhibits, just cameras, so, Four I need you to get to the roof and hook up a disruptor, it should glitch out the cameras to replay their last 30 seconds, Three, you have the car waiting out the back of the building, Five, you get the guard away from the door, have fun with it, Seven you're our lookout, you're going to pose as a guard standing in for the one Five took away, signal when or if something goes wrong, and finally One and Two you guys are in charge of stealing the piece, you’ll enter the gallery in back in janitors uniforms, get into the room and cut the canvas off the wall, do it fast because it would likely trip an alarm, you’ll have fifteen minutes to get out of the building and to the car, take the fire exit in the room and leg it to Three.” She looked up at the team and nodded to them.  
“Any questions?”  
Billy looked over at the map splayed out over the table and then back up at Anne with raised eyebrows.  
“You did this all in two days?” he asked her, genuine surprise in his voice  
Anne only offered a simple nod. “This used to be my job, I got really good at it after a while, and if anything goes wrong I have you all on my own map, I can guide you out from somewhere close by.”  
The team all looked amongst themselves before One smiled wide and hit his hand on the desk.  
“See? Told you she’d be a good addition to the team, we do this tomorrow at noon, you're all dismissed.” One said and left the room, the others following him out, saying their thanks and good lucks, going back home to prepare for tomorrow.  
––––––––––––––––––  
It was the day of the mission and everyone was gathered at the spot where Anne would be watching and giving directions, they were currently in a library on the top floor by a window with a perfect view of the gallery.  
“Alright guys let's rollout, let's put Eight’s plan to work,” Blain said and everyone nodded and moved out to their required positions.  
Anne booted up the laptop and turned on all their trackers then tested the comms.  
 _“Hello ghosts, I have you all on my screen and you're all in position, Four, take it away”_  
 _“Got it, just a second.”_  
She could see him circling the building then slowly making his way to the center, there was more silence through the channel until Four spoke up again.  
“Cameras officially messed up.”  
“ _Perfect, hold tight ghosts it just needs to record…”_ she trailed off _“Got it, the cameras are useless now, Two, One are you in position?”_  
 _“Yea were here.”_ Came Camille’s voice  
 _“Alright, Five and Seven go ahead.”_  
Anne was nervous, she didn't really know why she had done this a thousand times with people much less competent than this team so technically she should have nothing to worry about but she can't help this feeling of fear coursing through her.  
 _“What do you want me to do, Eight?”_ It was Billy, she had forgotten him on the roof completely as she got lost in thought.  
 _“I need you to stay put for now, when I say rip the thing from the wires and get to the library.”_  
 _“Alright, we’re inside the room but there's a fuck tone of art in here, which one is it?”_ It was one this time. Anne pulled up her papers rustled through until she found the artwork.  
 _“It's a Monet, so find the one that looks like a castle over a lake but it's a bit hazy.”_ She said simply and bit her lip.  
 _“What the fuck kind of description is that?”_ It was from Javier.  
 _“It's the best one I can give.”_ She snapped at him.  
Camille's’ voice cut in quickly after hers.  
 _“Alright we got the piece and we just triggered an alarm, where's the fire exit?”_  
 _“Should be at the very back corner of the room, it's a red door, it’ll trip the fire alarm, that’ll send everyone running. Five and Seven get out of there now, Four you stay still until Two and One are out.”_  
Not long after that, she got Javier on the Comms.  
 _“Were heading to the library.”_  
 _“Four get the fuck out of there, now.”_ She said and glanced out the windows to the gallery emptying because of the fire alarm, she spotted Amelia and Blain in the crowd walking away and sighed when she saw Billy walk out from behind the corner and to the library.  
 _“Good job ghosts, I’m shutting down the line.”_ She said and killed their communication line, walking outside to where they were supposed to meet.

The ride back was loud and filled with then congratulating her for a job well done and Anne, honestly, didn't know what to say because no one had actually ever shown genuine happiness from her just doing her job, all she ever got was a stern ‘good’ from her boss and the promise that she would be able to go home that night but now in a car filled with people who were genuinely happy for her and saying they were glad she was on the team...she was getting emotional and she did not like it one bit because it’s just a mission and as much as she tried to tell them the team did convince her to believe them because as Javier said ‘your first mission is a milestone’ so she just smiled and accepted their praises.

The team decided that they should go to get dinner to celebrate and that's where Anne finds herself now, between Billy and Amelia as they all eat Chinese food, it's nothing fancy but Anne really couldn't ask for more, eating with her old ‘family’ was a tricky affair because someone almost always was eating their final meal and would be dead at the table after dessert but now, this was a fun time, everyone was chatting and laughing and now own was getting shot later, it made her relax greatly.  
“So, Anne,” asked Amelia with a big wide smile “Where are you from? Like where did One find you from?”  
Anne felt all eyes go to her and she swallowed her food and thought about what she was going to tell them.  
“He found me in Germany, but I was born in Canada.”  
“What were you doing in Germany then?” Asked Billy from beside her with his mouth semi-full with food, making his cheeks puff out in a kind of adorable way. Blinking she stuttered a little bit and answered truthfully. “I used to work for the Camorra doing pretty much this exact same thing.”  
There was a silence at the table for a few moments.  
“You used to work for the Camorra? How the fuck did you get involved in them?” The genuine concern on Camille’s face was a bit unsettling because she usually kept a cold and calm face.  
“It’s a long story but I was essentially sold to them to pay off debts, I... don't wanna talk about it.” She said with a light laugh and shook her head, one of her hands subconsciously falling to the healing cut on her leg that she had patched up not long ago.  
As if sensing her sudden shift in mood One cleared his throat.  
“Well, now that we have first-hand experience with Anne’s skills here I’m giving you a few days off while I track down your next bigger mission.”  
With those words everyone started discussing what they were going to do over their time off and Anne relaxed where she sat, she looked up at One and gave him a small smile, he only returned it with a nod and kept eating his food.

The night soon rolled at the base and everyone was taking their leave, Anne was getting a ride with Billy since, upon further questioning during dinner, she found out that he lived rather close to her and she didn't use her car to get to the base that morning preferring to walk there to get a good look at some of the town. Now in his car, she looked over at him as he drove to her building.  
“What are you planning to do with your days off?” She asked him after a beat of looking at his face, she was staring a lot and it was weirding her out.  
“Maybe party, drink, sleep.” He answered, it was a simple plan but he sounded excited.  
“What about you Anne?”  
“I don't know...I don't know anything about this town or what to do so I'm probably just going to either stay home or be at the base,” she answered, cheeks flushing a bit, why am I embarrassed? She asked herself.  
“I can show you around if you want, that way you get an actual tour of all the good spots and you won't get lost.” He laughed and glanced over at her.  
“Are you sure? I don't want you to change your plans—”  
“None of that, I'd be more than happy to show you around, don't want a repeat of what happened with me, I had a lot of trial and error until I found the best places.” He said with a big smile and pulled the car over.  
“Meet me out here tomorrow at eleven and make sure you're comfy.”  
“Thanks again, Billy.”  
“Any time Anne.”  
She watched as his car drove away and felt a big wide smile slide to her face and a giddy feeling settled in her chest as she made her way inside and up to her floor. Tomorrow was going to be fun.


	3. Exploration

The morning air in California was crisp and slightly cool where she stood at her balcony with a mug of coffee overlooking the city, She wasn't on the top floor but she could see the outline of a desert on the horizon, it looked just as far as it actually was and she almost regretted the walk she took there yesterday, Anne’s apartment was close to the desert so she didn't need to go through much of the city but it was still a far walk, the others had looked at her like she was crazy but she just shrugged and sat herself down.  
Her now empty mug took her out of her thoughts as she took one last look at the city that she would spend the day exploring today and maybe tomorrow with Billy. It was still early so Anne had just enough time to finish up her breakfast, shower and get dressed which should all take her until around eleven.

Billy was on time, which is for some reason surprising to her as she had pegged him as the type to be late to a certain degree but here he was, waiting out front of her building, face lighting up with a huge smile when he saw her walk out of the building.  
“Good morning, Anne.” He greeted and took a look at what she was wearing, leggings, a light shirt, and some running shoes, he nodded more to himself then turned and started walking away, her following beside him, looking around at the street.  
“Good morning, Billy, why did you want me out here so...not early but at this time?” She asked him, tearing her eyes away from the little shops that she didn't see the last time she was walking through this street.  
“Mainly because we have a long day of walking and sightseeing but also because..” he trailed off looking over her head at the names of the shops, Anne following his gaze. “My favourite coffee shop opened about ten minutes ago and there’s no one in there right now, did you eat already?” He asked, holding the door for her to enter first.  
“Thanks and yea, I already ate but you can get something if you haven't yet.” She said and turned to look at the menu boards, the prices were pretty cheap for coffee, they weren't overpriced like what most of the media back in Germany lead her to believe about this state but she had only seen one coffee shop so this one might just be cheap.  
“Here you go.”  
She jumped a little bit, his voice startling her which caused Billy no little amount of amusement as he began laughing, being careful not to spill the two travel mugs of coffee in his hands.  
“Didn't mean to scare ya, but here you go, I got us some coffee.” He offered her the cup and she smiled taking it and sipping carefully to not burn her tongue.  
“It's good, thank you.” She said with a small smile as he walked out again, Anne following close behind him like a puppy but she didn't miss the way that the shop staff gave her a knowing look like they saw something she didn't but she brushed it off.  
“Where exactly are you taking me?”  
“As I said, I’m showing you around some of my favourite places in the city.”  
She felt a bit of fear settled in her again because she saw what Billy could do and while she wasn't inept at climbing she was never going to be on his level and she was hoping that his favourite places didn't include climbing at all.

After a while longer of walking around they came to a stop out front of a park and Anne looked at Billy with a look that said, are we gonna go in?  
“Not quite, follow me.”  
She sighed and nodded following after him drinking her coffee she was kind of starting to regret agreeing to this but those thoughts stopped when she saw where they were going, a dog park, Anne gave Billy a look with a small smile and a raised eyebrow as he shrugged and opened the gate, shutting it behind them.  
“Dog-lover?” She asked him as she took in all the different dogs running around the park, smile resting on her face as they walked through.  
“You could say that yea.” He said looking down at her when a large dog ran up to them, Anne dropping to her knees to play with it until the owner came running; The owner looked really nice and she apologized if her dog, scooter, had bothered them but Anne shook her head and waved goodbye when the two left.  
“Dog-lover?” Billy mirrored her question and huffed a small laugh at her eye roll.  
“You could say that yea.” She teased back and looked around them again.

They spent a little while longer in the dog park, more dogs coming up to them to play and lick at their faces when they were given pats, all the owners were more than happy to let them but again, they were all giving her the same look, the look that said that there was something she wasn't seeing and it was starting to bother her so she brought it up as they were leaving the dog park.  
“Have you noticed that the owners were giving us a...look like they knew something we didn't?”  
He shook his head and shrugged at her questions.  
“Maybe you're just seeing things.” He said and nudged her a little bit receiving on not so gentle nudge back.

The rest of the day went more or less like that with Billy guiding and Anne following him around like a little duckling. They visited more parks, taking a walk through Billy’s favourite trails as he told her about what he’s seen on the trails then they shifted completely and backtracked for about ten minutes to get to a street filled with small food shops, bakeries, sweet shops, diners and bistros and a bunch more, they kept walking through it as Billy pointed to his favourite shops and places to eat and made fun of the ones he didn't like as much, calling them stuffy or pricey for what they sold.  
It was a fun day and Anne wasn't minding that he was doing most of the talking, he had a lovely voice and wasn't half bad to look at while he talked, but Anne, ever so attentive, also couldn't help but see more people give them the look like something was going on between them which confused her so much because he didn't think that they were doing anything out of the ordinary for friends they were talking, joking and teasing each other as he showed her around, that's what friends did...right? So she didn't understand what the problem was.  
Once again lost in her thoughts she crashed into Billy when he suddenly turned a sharp left and ran right into her sending her stumbling back, having to be caught by him.  
“You do that a lot don't you?” He asked with a small smirk as he let go of where he caught her.  
“Do what exactly?” She asked, face a dark shade of pink.  
“Get lost in thought to the point where you forget where you are, you've done it I'd say three or four times today.”  
She blushed even more and looked away for a moment before nodding. “Yea,” she admitted, “I’m not really used to being around people so much and it’s a habit I developed while working back in Germany to keep myself company.”  
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Sounds like you were alone for a lot of your time in Germany then.”  
Anne nodded and sighed a little bit, looking away from him a second then returning her gaze to him. “Yea, I was pretty much left alone, the Camorra didn't like me too much anyway so they tended to stay as far away from me as they could which meant I was on my own, which isn't that bad I guess because they weren't the best company in the best times.” She laughed but it was forced on, trying to bring in some comedy to the idea.  
“Well now you have us, we won't leave you alone and if you do ever want company...you can come and find me.” He smiled, face heating a little bit as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.  
“Thanks, I think I will take you up on that offer sometime.” She smiled and locked eyes with him, he had beautiful eyes and she was always a sucker for pretty eyes but before she could make it weird Anne reached up on her toes and ruffled his hair.  
“Fuck was that for?” He laughed and kind of fixed his hair into something close to what it was before.  
“You're too sweet.” She smiled and motioned behind her. “Come on, you've been hyping this last place up so much I really wanna see what it is.”  
He nodded and took hold of her shoulders, gently moving her to his side and started walking in the direction he turned when they crashed into each other.  
“Did you just move me so you didn't crash again?” She asked him with a big smile as she picked up her pace a bit to catch up with him.  
“Maybe.” He smirked and laughed at the shove that received him.

Turns out the place that he was talking about was an abandoned church at the top of a tall as fuck hill. Panting a bit at the steep climb she turned to Billy with a strange look on her face.  
“What is this place?”  
“This is my all-time favourite place in his whole city.” He stated simply and started leading her around the gated off property to the back. This was a very different place than she had in mind going off of what she’d been shown today, throughout this whole day Billy showed her normal places like shops and parks and places to eat, normal places you would show someone new to a city if you wanted them to get the proper experience from someone that lived there but this...this place was a little creepy especially now as the sun was beginning to go down but she trusted Billy so taking a deep breath she ducked under the hole in the fence and followed him inside.  
“This place was condemned a few years back and it's just been sitting here ever since, come on this isn't even the best part.” There was excitement in his voice and it showed on his face too once Anne stopped looking around at the place trying to find anything that could cause it to collapse in on them, he looked like a little kid, so happy.  
“Billy, what exactly do you mean?”  
All she got in the way of an answer was a sly smile from the man before he found a foothold on the exposed metal support beams and started climbing.  
“Of course.” She muttered and did her best to keep up, mimicking his movements best she could so she didn't accidentally rest her weight on a faulty beam and fall.  
It took her a little longer than him to climb up the tower and by the time she had gotten close enough to the top to see Billy peeking over the edge at her she was tired.  
“Here, let me help.” He said and stretched out his hand, Anne gave him a semi harsh glare and took his hand, holding on tightly as he tugged her up much faster than she anticipated, not having enough time to get a proper footing on the landing her foot caught on the edge of the hole she just climbed up and it sent her careening right into Billy, knocking them over with her landing square on his chest, just like in the movies. They caught each others stare and stayed still almost frozen for what seemed like way too long before Anne looked away and felt her face heat up.  
“Are you okay?” She asked him, face redder than Mars as she slowly moved off of him to stand up, offering him a hand as help up which he took.  
Once both of them were standing, faces still flushed he coughed a little.  
“Yea I’m fine, don't worry.” He said and looked over her head once again before smiling softly.  
“Look.”  
Anne turned around and felt her breath threaten to leave her, the sun was now starting to properly set over the city, casting it in beautiful colours and shadows.  
“Yea I totally get why you love this place so much.” She muttered and carefully sat down on the edge of the crumbling tower, a big hole where the belfry and railing should be leaving a perfect view of the city.  
Billy hummed and sat down next to her to look over at the city with her but after a while he looked over at her and smiled softly, watching her face cast in a golden light and the raw awe in her eyes. His eyes slid down to her arms where she was hugging them to herself.  
“Cold?” he asked, it was windy up here and the setting sun was taking most of the heat away as well.  
“A little bit,” she admitted, eyes not tearing themselves away from the scene in front of her, still mesmerized by it.  
“Here take this.”  
Anne turned to him and smiled, he offered her his sweater and she took it with a nod.  
“Thank you.” She slipped it on over her head and bit her lip to hold back the sigh as the warmth left on the fabric seeped through her skin.  
“What about you?”  
“I’ll be fine, I've been in much colder weather with a lot less.” He winked and she scoffed, shoving his shoulder.  
“Pig.” She jokes and watched as he laughed, head falling back a little bit.

They stayed up there for a while longer, chatting and enjoying the site as well as the company, as the night grew colder Anne found herself moving closer to Billy until he eventually just wrapped an arm around her waist and she let her head fall to rest on his shoulder. Neither of them noticed the shift in their seating positions until a particularly strong gust of wind had the tower rocking a bit causing Anne to yelp a little in surprise which had Billy tightening his grip on her, at that moment it seemed to settle into both of them what position they were in exactly and they both looked away from each other. There was a bit of silence until both of them spoke up at the same time  
“It’s getting late”  
“We should get going”  
They both paused abruptly and laughed loudly at the mistake, standing up.  
“Come on I’ll help you get down.” Billy smiled and lead Anne to the hole and smiled reassuringly as they started their descent to the ground.  
Anne got home a lot later than she expected to this morning but she wasn't complaining much anyways as today has been fun and she left with a promise of them going to see the other half of the city tomorrow.  
As she lay in her bed that night though, she couldn't help the heat creeping its way up her neck as she thought about all that did happen today, especially near the end.


	4. Dangerous Waters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bold=conversation in German

It had been a lot sooner than Anne anticipated when the phone that One dropped off at her house that very first night, lit up with a message calling the whole team to go to the base, he had gotten them their next mission.

This time Anne actually did take her car there and almost laughed at how fast she got there.

“Alright, I was pulling on some lines and I found out that some big bad government is sending one of his generals to receive a crate of illegal arms, we fly out tonight you know where to be, I sent you all the details you need, Eight I took the liberty of finding maps of the place the deal is going down, dismissed.” The team nodded and they all took their leave most going back to their cars, this time including Anne. When she got home she took a look at what she was sent and One was telling the truth but what he failed to mention was that they were going to be flying back to Germany to intercept said guns, more specifically the town she used to live in but One didn't mention that last bit in the message he sent.

Anne gave a big sigh and dropped her phone on the table in her room, grabbing a small bag and packing a change of clothes for two days and her still unpacked travel kit.

It took her no time to pack all she needed and have her bag waiting by the door with her tech stuff that One let her keep in the apartment.

Anne took a long look at herself in the mirror, the bags under her eyes had faded, her hair, now well maintained, had a healthy shine to it and took on its original brown colour and not the muted dull hazel one, she looked good and happy for once in her life, death was doing wonders for her complexion; with a small laugh she ducked her head and slid on a gold chain around her neck, closing it and then looking back up at it, it was a necklace with a sizable cross on it and locket pendant on it, it was a gift from her mother long ago and she hadn't worn it in years, ever since she stopped believing in any religion.

Her phone beeping with an alarm startled her, it was time to go so with one last look in the mirror Anne turned around and left the apartment.

“I suggest you all settle in and get comfortable, this is a 12-hour flight,” Blain called over the speakers once they had climbed in altitude and Anne grabbed her laptop and papers and made her way to a table to start formulating a plan. No one really asked her what she was doing as they were all either chatting amongst themselves or getting ready to settle in for the long flight so Anne took advantage of that and set herself up to start planning their movement with the intel that One had gotten for her.

She was able to do this undisturbed for about four or five hours until she saw someone sit down across from her, making her look up, and to no one's surprise, it was Billy.

“Shouldn't you be getting rested?” She asked him finally looking up from her work, stretching a little bit as her spine cracked in a few places.

“I could ask you the exact same thing, you've been at that since we took off why don't you take a break, sleep, read a book?” He suggested, he looked sleepy like he had just woken up and she smiled at him.

“No, I gotta get this done and I have twelve hours so may as well use the time.” She shrugged but Billy wasn't taking no for an answer and leaned over the table to shut the laptop.

“Hey—”

“No more working, if you're not gonna sleep then I’ll keep you company.” He gave her one of his big wide grins and Anne rolled her eyes but complied and leaned back in the chair, pulling her legs up to curl into the chair.

“Fine, but I hate to say that I’m not very good company.” She smiled softly and shrugged, watching as he laughed and shook his head.

“You're great company, tell me, What did you think of our little outings through the city?” he asked, and just like that he had gotten her full attention as they continued in warm comfortable conversation for an unspecified amount of time until Anne noticed her eyes feeling a little heavy and that she was yawning more.

“You should get some sleep, you can pick this up again when we land or whenever you wake up.” He said and stood up to grab one of the blankets in a closet near the back and draped it over her.

“Thanks, Billy, sleep well.” She said, eyes falling closed as he drifted off to sleep pretty much right after.

Anne fell in and out of sleep throughout the whole flight but this did lend to her finishing up her plan with about three hours left to spare of the flight so saving all her work and packing up her things she settled in for sleep until they landed on the ground.

––––––––––––––––––

They landed in the afternoon and Anne took the lead for guiding them around the place until reaching where they would be staying, speaking German did come in handy sometimes.

“I finished up the plan of attack on the plane if you want to hear about it now.” She offered to the team once they were all on the left to their rooms. There was a collective yes and they all decided to go to One’s room.

“The plan is pretty simple, from what I gathered the general is going to be there to make sure that the crate has everything it's supposed to have and that it makes it onto the boat headed back to his country. I split you up into two teams, Team one is going to make sure that the crate makes it to the boat but has the wrong identifying stickers on it, team two has the harder job which is to move the crate off the boat and swap it out for another one. The boat needs to get more cargo so it doesn't look suspicious only crying one crate so it'll stop at the next harbour, I’ll deal with making sure where it stops but once there team two, is going to have to pose as inspectors, checking the manifest, you're going to point out that the boat has cargo destined for another boat and get it off. In theory, not a hard mission but...we’ll see.” she said with a small sigh as he looked over her maps again.

“Team one is Seven and Four. The crate will likely be guarded to an extent so get creative. Team two will be the rest of us, including me, this time. We’ll need to be in uniform and ready to get that crate off the ship quickly without them noticing what it is.”

There was silence again and they all nodded in agreement with the plan.

“Wonderful, the deal is taking place as any deal is, in the dead of night on a busy wharf so it’ll give us good cover, you can go.” One said and everyone quickly went back to their rooms including Anne who needed to get the fact that he was back in her old town and Camorra territory off her mind.

It was the day of the mission and Anne was scared once again, this time not for the mission but because she knew where they were going to be and she knew that she was risking a lot being there in person. The wharf is somewhat controlled by the Camorra and she was not excited to be there but there was nowhere safe for her to observe from so she had no choice but to get involved.

_ “Alright, I have everyone on my screen and the lines are live let's do this, Seven, Four, take it away,” _ she said and finished getting changed into her uniform heading up to the main office that dealt with dockings.

_ “Alright we can see the crate, it's got one guard.”  _ Seven.

_ “Right, take him out, make it quiet and get those stickers on there.” _ One.

Anne watched the shapes on the map move for a bit, seven going right up to the guard and Four circling behind, you could hear a struggle but then Seven came over the line again.

_ “Our job’s done, what now?” _

_ “Act as the guard and get that crate on the boat, Four I need you to get to the boat and read me the numbers on the side as well as the name.” _ Anne.

Four read her the numbers and she was quick to write them down.

_ “Need me to repeat?” _

_ “As much as I do love hearing your voice I need you to shut the fuck up, I can hear talking on Sevens end.” _

They all listened to the conversation on the other end and then Seven came on over the line once again.

_ “I was put on the boat as a guard for the crate, I’ll see you at the harbour.” _

_ “See you then Seven.” _

_ “I’m hurt Eight, you could've been nicer.” _

_ “Trust me, I can be much meaner than that.” _

_ “Oh, yea? Like what?” _

_ “I could've said that I wished you were shoved into the water.” _

_ “You wound me!” _

_ “Not as much as the propellor would have.” _

_ “Enough you two, Eight get that boat where it’s supposed to be.” _ Two did not sound amused but you could hear the others trying to hold back laughter on their ends

**_“Hello there Mariana, just confirming that you're docking here in five minutes for cargo inspection and cargo boarding, at Pier 8.”_ **

**_“Yep, should be there sooner than planned, left earlier than I listed.”_ **

**_“Not a problem we’ll have someone waiting for you at your dock to make things as fast as possible.”_ **

_ “Neat, what the fuck was that?”  _ It was Three

_ “The boat will be docking in five minutes at 8, you guys will be waiting there for it, the captain is expecting an inspection and loading so honestly grab any boxes you want, I’ll deal with him and the papers which should distract him enough.” _

_ “And how exactly do you know all of this, Eight?” _ It was Three again, his curiosity was both admirable and a bit annoying.

_ “I’ll explain once we’re done here.” _ Anne supplied and sighed heavily.

_ “Ooh tense, hate to break it to you guys but the boat is already docking.” _ it was One with his signature tone.

_ “I’ll be right down.” _ Anne took off running for the pier hoping to make it in time.

The mission went to plan surprisingly, the crate wasn't guarded much at all which was suspicious but going off her knowledge of the docks it wasn't surprising, no one dared to fuck with mafia controlled docks.

Back at the hotel, everyone was glad to be able to get some sleep after the mission and On admitted that he thought this was going to take longer so they would be leaving tomorrow at midnight, everyone cheered and Anne nodded but kept quiet, for now, she just wanted some rest and time to think over if she was really going to go through with her plans for visiting places.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys (readers and writers) wanna join a little discord server that some users were kind enough to set up here's the link  
> https://discord.gg/Np498E


	5. Trip Down Memory Lane

Morning rolled around and Anne decided that she would go through with her plans, it's not like she had any friends in this town anyway so it's not like anyone would notice her.

As she got dressed Anne caught sight of herself in the mirror, her body littered with scars some small but visible, some much more noticable and others barely there and could be mistaken for scratches but she knew what they were from, they were from her failures with the Camorra. Shrugging on a shirt and pants Anne took one last look at her suitcase and pulled out a familiar hoodie, Billy’s from that night at the church, she had meant to return it and had even packed it to do so but now as she slipped it on over her head she felt that familiar comfort that she got that night and decided to keep it for one more night before returning it, she was going to need as much comfort as possible today.

Anne grabbed what she needed and quickly made her way out of the room and down to get some breakfast, appetite pretty much non-existent she ate something fast and grabbed an apple for the road, glad that none of the team was there to ask where she was going or what she was doing with Billy’s hoodie if they recognized it.

The first stop on her list was her mother's grave, it wasn't too far from the hotel, as they were near the center of town. Overall, the walk took about fifteen minutes through the streets she knew all too well and sooner than she wanted she was there, in front of the headstone.

“Hey mama, I miss you.” She said softly and kneeled in front of the grave. 

“I know I haven't come to visit in a while but...my life has been really hectic recently, I died did you know that?” She asked looking next to the headstone.

“Buried me right here next to you.” She paused as if waiting for a response.

“I’m okay though, I’m being taken care of by a group of really cool people who take good care of me, I would tell you their names but...were in a public place.” She chuckled and pressed her head to the cold stone getting a little teary-eyed.

“I still have your necklace mama, I don't believe anymore but I hope you're in a good place, I have to go now, I love you,” she said and stood up, wiping at her eyes, and she flipped the hood up as she walked away from her mother.

Walking away, she thought about her, Anne’s mother had passed away when she was around 18 and was just going into university, Anne was told that it was natural causes but something about it never sat well.

The next stop was her old apartment building, she was curious to see if she’d been replaced already but what Anne did not expect was for the building to be cordoned off and in its place was a pile of burnt walls, they burned it down, it was gone. She hated that places so in theory, she would have been happy, hell she should have been over the moon for because the place that she was forced to live in was non-existent but something inside of her twisted in an ugly way, in a way that made it feel like one more tether to this earth was gone. She felt a few tears slide down her face as a woman stood next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Did you lose someone in the fire too?”

Anne looked over at her and hesitated before nodding at her.

“My sister,” she muttered “she was like my other half and now...I feel alone.” 

Anne said to the stranger and honestly, she shouldn't be, but it's not like anything really matters anymore.

“I’m so sorry to hear that darling, I know it's not much of a pick me up but come into my shop and I’ll whip you up a hot chocolate on the house.”

Anne smiled at her and nodded. “Thank you that's very kind of you.”

The hot chocolate was amazing and on any other day it would have cheered her up but today's sadness was something much deeper than it usually was but Anne put on a brave face and after talking for almost an hour she said her thank yous and goodbyes to the kind lady and went on her way as the shop opened up for business. Even as she left though, still warm from the hot chocolate, the sadness tugged her deeper down into her mind.

The third and final stop was her childhood home where she lived with her mother while attending university. It was a modest house enough for three or four people and she knew her father still lived in it because, before everything, she would walk past and see him inside going about his life.

As Anne made her way around the property she came to the back of the house where you could see into the backyard because of the low fence and what she saw made her heart stop.

Two children playing in the backyard, Anne felt sick, she quickly moved her eyes up to the backyard door and saw that all the photos of her and her mother were taken down, they were replaced with whoever these people were, her father hated pictures so he didn't move them, no, he cut her out of his life and pretended she didn't exist.

“Daddy!” One of the kids called and Anne quickly left making sure to double around and sure enough, daddy was there, her own father carrying the two children in his arms.

The tears were now falling at full speed down her face and her hands were shaking as he reached for the phone in her pocket but then paused, who the hell was she going to call? She had no one, she was supposed to be dead. Moving a hand to wipe at her face she remembered who’s hoodie she was wearing and she dialled his number as quickly as she could.

_ “What’s up, Anne? Where are you we didn't see you at breakfast?” _

_ “Can I take you up on that offer—”  _ she sniffled a little bit _ “to go find you when I needed company?” _

_ “Of-of course you can, what’s wrong?” _ He sounded worried, it made her gut twist violently.

_ “I’ll explain later can we just ...meet in your room? Please?” _ Her voice was barely audible at the end as she dissolved into another fit of near-silent sobbing. She could hear cursing on the other side of the line and she thought he was going to take back his offer.

_ “For sure, just knock four times and I’ll open up, get here safe okay? Are you far?” _

_ “No, I can see the hotel now.” _

_ “Okay, I’ll see you soon Annie.” _

Then the line went dead, Annie, no one had called her that in ages, her crying increased a little bit as she kept her head down once she entered the lobby and went straight to Billy’s floor and directly to his room.

Her hand hovered at the door but another bout of tears made compelled her to let her hand fall four times like instructed and almost instantly after her last knock the door opened and she was pulled inside the room.

“Oh my god, Annie happened to you?” He said and gently pulled her to his chest, arms wrapping around her, encasing her in very familiar warmth. Before she could get a word out a sob wracked through her body and all at once everything that Anne was using to keep her tears back crumbled and she sobbed into his chest, clinging to the man like a lifeline because...he really was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHH I hate writing sad scenes ;-;  
> Most of this chapter was supposed to be in german again but I'm sure you knew


	6. Let Me Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to try out Billy's POV, this'll happen a few more times

Billy paced his room while he waited for those four knocks on the door.

God, what could've happened to her? She’s usually so happy and cheery.

It can't have been good if it shook her that much.

Sure, he's only really known her for a month or so but during that time he can see that she’s not one to crack easily, not with the way she gives orders and plans.

Billy kept pacing head swimming in thoughts and worry painted all over his face until

One, two

…

Three

…

Four knocks sounded through the room and he was practically running to the door, opening it up and tugging Anne inside.

“Oh my god, Annie happened to you?” He said softly and pulled her into a hug, he was gentle about it, making sure to not squeeze her too hard but that only seemed to make her cry even harder than ever.

Oh no, this is bad, fuck.

“Hey, it's okay, you're okay, I’m here.” He muttered into the top of her head.

They stood like that for a little while until he felt Anne stop crying into his chest.

Good, that's good.

He carefully pulled her away enough to be able to see her face and wiped at the wetness on her cheeks.

“I’m sorry.” She said weakly and he chuckled softly, shaking his head.

“No, don't be sorry, it’s alright.” He said and carefully guided her to his bed, laying her down before rounding to the other side to join her.

Anne looked over at him and bit her lip and stared at him as if in deep thought before she kicked off her shoes and shuffled over to rest her head on his chest.

She was tense but relaxed when he wrapped his arms around her again.

Billy rubbed her side softly and looked down at her.

He didn't like this, not one bit.

What the fuck happened to her?

“Do you think you're ready to talk?” He asked her softly and slowly.

She hesitated and Billy prepared himself for her to say no or to break down again but she nodded and took a deep, shaking breath.

He should do something, not just lay there!

“I went out today.” She started and Billy nodded, hand still gently rubbing at her side.

“I went to go visit my mom...well her grave.”

Oh no.

“They buried me beside her,” she laughed a little bit and he frowned at the laugh “I talked with her for a while but it didn't feel the same...it felt worse, knowing I couldn't go back to talk with her anymore, all I have left is this” Anne shifted and pulled out a necklace from under the hoodie she was wearing.

That looks familiar.

“It's beautiful.” He muttered and took a hold of it, toying a bit with the cross “was it hers?”

Anne nodded and Billy saw another tear slid down her cheek, he was quick to wipe it away.

“What else happened?” He asked her again and watched her hand settled against his chest.

“I went back to my old apartment, to see if it was still empty or if  _ they _ ” she spit with such venom “had replaced me already but it got burned down, I should've been happy, I hated that place, it was nothing more than a prison cell my father sent me too but seeing it burned...down cut something, I felt a piece of myself, my identity, who I am...I felt it die, I felt it just disappear.”

She’s...lonely?

Billy could hear the tremble in her voice and was quick to change their positions so he was facing Anne and she was pressed to his chest, it took a second for her to process what had happened but when she did, one of her hands slid over his chest and to his back, hugging him, and he was more than glad to hold her as close as he could.

“Anything else?” He muttered into her hair.

Silence.

“You can tell me, it's okay.”

“I went back to my childhood home, to see if that was still...standing mainly, but I shouldn't have gone at all.”

Shit

“What happened there, Annie?”

“I saw kids, two of them, they were so pretty but then I looked up at the wall in the dining room, the only place in the house where my father ever allowed photos...and all the photos of me and mom..were gone, they were replaced by his two sons!” She was absolutely livid, other than her tone Anne was shaking and her fingers were digging into his back.

She wasn't lonely, she was alone.

“Hey, calm down it's okay.” He said quickly and tightened his hold.

“I’m sorry all this happened to you Annie,” He said into her hair and tucked her head into his neck “no one should have to go through this but I'm so glad you asked for help, I know it can be hard sometimes.” He continued, glancing down to see if she was still okay.

Not crying, good, keep going.

“You can stay here as long as you want, I’ll be right here.” He could feel the small smile that worked its way onto her lips as she nodded and muttered out a weak ‘thank you’ to him.

Smiles.

Smiles are good.

He hated this, this sucked!

She shouldn't be sad, not tonight, not now.

Why did he not mention they were back in her hometown?

Why open up old wounds?

One really fucked up this time.

After a little bit, Billy looked down at her again.

She was wearing the hoodie he was looking for.

“I was looking for this hoodie actually, I didn't know you kept it.” He said

Maybe changing the topic would help her forget.

Anne looked down and let out a small laugh playing with the hem of the sleeves.

“I did, I was going to give it back today but...I figured I needed the warmth.” she made to take it off but Billy caught her wrist.

“No it's okay, you can keep it, it looks good on you.”

Think, what now?

“Do you want a drink? I went out and bought some beer earlier today.”This is a bad idea but hey he’s running out of options.

Why is she shaking her head?

“When I’m a little more grounded, maybe but not right now, I might not stop until I can't see straight.” She had a point.

“Why don't you go shower? The warm water should help you relax a little bit.”

“I don't have any clothes to change into.”

“You can borrow something of mine, or I can go get your bag, go, you’ll feel better.” He smiled and gently nudged her out of bed sitting himself up, Anne stood up and turned to him with a smile

God that same smile she had when they were out on their tour of the city.

He missed that smile, it was so genuine and nice.

“Thank you, Billy.” She said and placed something down on the bedside table.

“It’s no problem.”

With that Anne turned around and walked into the bathroom leaving Billy sitting on the bed staring after her. He looked to the nightstand and saw her room key.

I’ll wait until the water starts, he thought.

The water started up and he made quick to leave, not forgetting his own room key, and went to the lift.

Finding her room wasn't too difficult as he knew it was beside Amelia’s and hers was 5078 so he only had to try two rooms.

Anne’s room was neat and tidy, her duffle left on the table by the window, he grabbed the bag, zipped it up and took his leave, not wanting to be in the room for much longer...it just felt odd to be there without her.

He made it back to his room without being spotted and before Anne finished up in the shower. Billy took out some clothes for himself to shower after her and checked his phone to see if the others messaged him at all and lo and behold, they had, Blain messaged him to tell him that they were all going to meet for dinner at 7.

Shit, how does he tell Anne?

Does he even tell her?

He sighed heavily and didn't bother to reply, he’d have to tell Anne but that could wait because he heard the shower the stop, and glanced at the bag sitting on the bed.

Oh god.

He took a deep breath and grabbed the bag.

He has jumped off buildings and dogged grenades but he’s nervous at this?

Really?

Billy shook his head and walked to the door, knocking on it a few times.

“Come in.”

He slowly opened the door and smiled sheepishly at her, she was wrapped in a towel, brushing her hair.

“I got your bag, Blaine said that were meeting for dinner at 7 by the way.”

She nodded and smiled at him before he left.

Billy sighed and flopped back onto the bed, one arm covering his face as he dove back into his thoughts.

What was going on with him?

Why was he so nervous?

What happened to him?

He's normally so calm cool and collected and now he can't even walk into a bathroom?!

This continues on for a while until the bathroom door opens. He peaked out from under his arm and sat up smiling a little, Anne, now in nicer clothes, black leggings, still in his hoodie and...sushi socks?

Cute.

She must have caught his stare because she said “Like my socks?” not a second later.

“Love them.” He smiled and hopped off the bed and walked over to her.

He looked down at her and raised his hand but quickly dropped it.

No, not now.

“How do you feel?” He asked instead.

“Much better, thank you.” She smiled and stared up at him expectantly.

Shit, fuck, RUN.

“I’m gonna take a shower, you're welcome to stay as long as you want.” He smiled, there was something else he felt he needed to do but he stepped away and grabbed his clothes heading into the shower to see if he could clear his own thoughts.

FUCK,

He’s a goner for sure.

––––––––––––––––––

Waiting for dinner was absolute torture for Billy.

After he got out of his shower Anne was curled up in his bed with the TV on, her expression meant she wasn’t paying attention to it.

She’s in her thoughts again.

Billy looked at her for a little while longer before climbing into bed with her.

“What were you thinking about?”

Anne blinked up at him and shook her head with a small smile on her face as she moved to him again, curling into his chest.

“Nothing, just...life mainly.”

“Your old life?”

He wrapped his arms around her again.

She's so cold.

“No..well yes, but not anymore.”

That's good, no more crying.

“I was just thinking about what I would do with myself when I’m not working or on a mission, I can’t go out and meet people if I do I have to be sure that they can’t contact me ever again...it's such a hassle.”

Yea, she was right, it had been something he had to get used to as well.

“It is, but look on the bright side, if you screw something up no one will remember you did it and you can always find” a pause “us if you do ever wanna do something.”

Nice save.

“I guess you're right.” She muttered and sighed softly.

“Do you want to stay the night?” He asked, voice a bit wobbly

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“I said you were welcome to stay as long as you needed right?” He smiled down at her and gave a slight squeeze

“Okay, thank you.”

What did he do?

Dinner wasn't any better but with the rest of the team there he was able to take his mind off things.

They were having Italian food which meant a big table and lots of rowdy laughing from all of them as they shared what they did throughout the day and overall just chatting, it was nice.

Billy glanced over at Where Anne was seated between One and Amelia, she looked back to normal, nothing like what she did when she broke down in his arms earlier today, she was smiling again and laughing and overall just looking a lot better than before.

It’s all an act, most of it anyways.

He didn't doubt that she did feel better but Billy knew she still wasn't fully better, not going off the way that Anne stayed curled into him until they had to go, and even then she looked hesitant to leave.

She had left his Hoodie behind in the room and when she took it off he saw the shiver that went through her in the cold air.

Clink.

His fork his the bottom of his plate and that served to snap him out of his thoughts enough to realize that he’d finished up his food.

Tearing his eyes away from his plate Billy took another look around the table at the others who were all either down or just finishing up their meals when he heard Amelia ask Anne something.

“I never asked, where did you go today?”

Oh fuck, oh no.

“We didn't see you at breakfast..or the whole day really.”

Amelia shut up

Anne paused and bit her lip and Billy tensed a little bit where he sat.

“I just went out for a walk, I used to visit this town when I was little and I wanted to see if anything had changed.” With a dazzling smile, she lied right through her teeth.

Safe.

“I didn't realize I spent the whole day out until I got the message that we were meeting for dinner, sorry.”

Billy relaxed in his chair and took a drink from his water.

They all seemed to accept her answer and moved on with their conversations, having shifted to what they saw in the town.

Billy locked eyes with Anne across the table and shot her a small smile.

After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms, all talking about what they were going to do, some were going to pack up, others were going to go to the pool.

Now in his room, Billy set to pack his stuff to keep him busy until Anne came back from packing away her other things that weren't in her duffle.

He was just finishing up setting an alarm to remind him that they were leaving at midnight when there were four knocks on his door again.

Opening the door, this time he let Anne walk in and closed it behind her.

“You didn't pack up your hoodie.” She said looking at it on the bed where she’d left it before dinner.

“I said you could keep it didn't I?”

She immediately slipped it over her head and Billy had to fight down his laugh.

Adorable.

And like that they were in bed again, Billy on his back and Anne’s head on his chest, looking as comfortable as can be.

“I think I’m just gonna use you as a pillow from now on.” She yawned a little, head bouncing when Billy laughed.

“Oh, yea?”

Honestly, he wouldn't mind at all.

“Yea.”

He rolled his eyes and shifted the arm under her head to loosely wrap around her.

“Get some sleep.”

“But what about the flight?”

“There's an alarm and we can just talk on the plane.”

She put up no arguments and slid her eyes shut.

Billy stayed awake a little bit longer and watched her.

Maybe a bit creepy but whatever, she looked so pretty.

Billy leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple before laying back and going to sleep.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP

Billy reached over to silence his phone and groaned softly, for a moment nothing was wrong and then he felt something move on him.

What the fuck— oh right.

He looked down at Anne and the position they were in now.

At some point Billy turned onto his said and pressed Anne as close to him as possible, their legs were tangled together, their hips were pressed close and her head was safely slotted under his chin.

Honestly, he was glad no one decided to walk in to wake them up.

“Annie,” he muttered groggily, still trying to wake himself up “Come on it’s time to go.”

She groaned in protest and whined, pressing herself closer to Billy, hiding her face in his neck.

Oh god, she was so cute!

Billy smiled down at her and rubbed at her back before holding onto her tightly.

“Up we go.”

And with that, he sat them up, and due to a great miscalculation on his part, Anne was now sat in his lap and both of them were very much awake.

Uh oh.

Oh no.

They both stared at each other, Billy, now very aware of everything around them, the hum of the fridge, his hands at her waist, the way her lips parted, her hands on his shoulders, the way that she was staring down at him, how her hair was settled on her shoulders. He couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Pretty,

Angle,

Beautiful,

Kiss her

Thoughts were going through his head at a much faster rate than he could bother to process them and there was definitely no way he had any hope of stopping them.

They were leaning in closer, ever so slowly getting closer, his hands sliding to her back to tug her closer, her hands moving from his shoulders to hold the back of his neck and slide up into his hair, they were so close—

BANG BANG

“Hey! Wake up cuatro.”

They both jumped apart, Anne’s face was red when she looked away and Billy cleared his throat.

“Coming! Meet you guys down there.” He yelled and heard Javier walking away.

He watched Anne slide off his lap, avoiding his eyes and grabbed her bags.

Grabbing his own bags, he lead them both out of the room and to the elevator.

The team was already waiting for them when they got down and some of them gave them a strange look.

“Alright that's everyone, let's get going.” One said and they all followed after him


	7. Possibilities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's pretty short

The Plane ride was silent for the most part except for those who were chatting away.

Billy’s mind was racing with thoughts as he replayed the events of earlier in the room.

What happened?

Why did I do that? Why did she do that?

What would've happened if Three hadn't stepped in?

What was with that look that some of them gave?

Do they know?

That's silly how could they know?

They did go down together.

Was she about to kiss me?

Was I about to kiss her?

Did I want her to kiss me?

Thirty thousand questions and he didn't have an answer to a single one of them, it was frustrating, to say the least.

Buzz Buzz

His phone rang with a message.

_ “Come here, you said we could talk on the plane.” _

He looked up at where Anne was sitting, it was at the very back of the plane, far away from the others who were all sitting together. He nodded and stood up making his way over, sitting himself down next to her.

“Hey, what did you wanna talk about?”

Anne shrugged and moved to lay her head on his shoulder.

“Anything, I just don't wanna be alone right now.”

“Are you still thinking about it?”

Another nod.

“Tell me then, how did you die?” It was a risk but if it helped her take her mind off everything inside her head, then why not.

“It wasn't anything flashy, I ran my car into a pole, died in the fire, a body wasn't recovered.”

“Wasn't flashy? Annie that's the best way to go, a big explosion, a fire!”

She laughed and shook her head.

“Of course you'd find that cool, how about you?”

“Now I had a really shitty death, fell from the top of a building.”

Another laugh came from Anne.

They sat in conversation for a while longer until Anne fell off to sleep, head still on his shoulder.

Looking at her now Billy couldn't help but think back to the hotel room, both before they fell asleep and after, he felt so awful from everything, especially this soon after she joined the team but then his mind wandered to what happened with them just before they had to leave.

He wanted to kiss her and was very close to doing it as well.

The more thought Billy put into it the more he felt his mind start to question his intentions with her.

Does she actually like me?

Is she just going along with it?

What if she doesn't really want this and is just going along with it to make me feel better?

Worry bit at him more and more as he actually took a step back and thought about their relationship so far.


	8. Feelings Suck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back to Anne's pov

“Look, I know what….. back to her room last night.”

“In the morning too... that was definitely his...”

“They...together too”

“Let's put it to a bet, 20 dollars each to the winner, you guys in?”

“I’m in.”

“Me too.”

“Ditto.”

Anne faded in and out of sleep, only catching parts of the others' conversations.

Sitting up slowly she lifted her head off Billy’s shoulder, she didn't remember falling asleep at all but now she was awake.

“How much longer do we have?” She asked no one in particular, making sure to not bother Billy who was still asleep.

“A few hours, three I think.”

She nodded and walked to the cockpit, knocked and walked in, not bothering to wait for permission.

“Yes, you may come in.” One said to her, giving a hard side-eye.

“What do you want?” he asked

“Why did you choose that city?”

“I didn't choose it, the evil guy did, do you have a problem?”

“You know damn well what my problem is, One.” Her tone was clipped, edging on angry

“No, I don't think I do, Eight.”

“You sent me back there knowing damn well that I could be recognized and killed. Do you know what the Camorra do to people who desert them?! They torture them, and they find those who helped and make them watch.”

“It was a risk I was willing to take.”

“Oh, yea? Is that what we are to you? Calculated risks? You put all of them in danger that night, you sent them into Camorra territory blind!”

“Yes, I sent them in because I knew they could handle it and it wasn't relevant to the mission.”

“Bull, shit, One. Is the mission really more important than your team?”

He didn't answer.

“I think you forget that we have nothing left but each other, whether you like it or not they care about each other so stop being a selfish dick who only cares about himself!”

Anne stood up and stormed out of the cockpit and into the cabin, she yelled, she knew the others heard by the way they all stared at her as she walked past and straight into the bathroom, locking the door.

Leaning against the wall, Anne felt hot tears slide down her face as she slid down to the ground and let them fall, it wasn't sadness...not fully at least, it was a mix of sadness and anger.

One had no idea what it was like to live with the constant fear of stepping one toe out of line and risking your life, he didn't get it.

One had never been beaten and cut for a mistake he didn't even make.

Anne reared back and gave a hard punch to the wall in front of her, feeling the white-hot pain slither from her knuckles all the way up her arm.

Buzz Buzz

_ “Come out Annie, you got us all worried.” _

Anne looked down at Billy’s message and just stared at it for a while before standing up, wiping her eyes and walking out to the main cabin.

“What happened in there?”

Anne looked to Blaine and shook her head slightly, sitting back down in her old spot next to Billy.

“Nothing important.”

“It clearly was if you were screaming at One,” Amelia said shifting in her seat a little to look at her, she was worried.

“The town we went to, that's where I used to live, before and after I was given to the Camorra.” Anne looked around, they were all waiting for her to continue.

“Before I died, I was with the Camorra for about four years and I got a very intimate look at how they worked.” She swallowed hard and looked to the ground.

“They owned the docks we were at, that's why there were no guards and that's who the general bought the guns from, if they were to have seen me, they would've considered it desertion and had me strung up, tortured, and they would make all you not only watch but participate.”

The cabin was deathly silent and it drove her mad. She looked around and found the same grim expressions on their faces.

“Anne, how do you know that they make you participate?” Javier asked cautiously as if he were speaking to a ticking time bomb.

She looked down at the floor and took a deep breath.

“Because…” her voice wobbled and she gave a dry laugh that had Billy’s hand pressed against her lower back in seconds, he was worried again.

“Because I participated in it, every single time, not because I helped someone escape but because they wanted me to know what would happen if I decided to leave.”

Anne looked up and looked around the room, she saw all their expressions and they all were the same one, pity, and nothing cut into her more than pitty.

Anne waved a hand and smiled at them.

“But none of that happened last night, so it’s okay..and besides it's in the past anyway, just shadows now.”

She wasn't convincing even herself but the others could tell that she didn't want to talk about it anymore and all nodded, gave her their comforting words and they went back to their conversations, Anne sighed softly and slid back in the seat until her back hit the leather and she relaxed into it.

“I’m sorry.”

Anne turned to Billy and shook her head with a smaller, more genuine smile.

“You didn't know, didn't have any way to know, I never told you.”

He shook his head and reached over to ruffle her hair, Anne tried to duck away but he caught her.

“What was that?” She laughed and swatted his hands away.

“For worrying...us.” He was going to say me, wasn't he?

Anne smiled and shifted a little bit to lay her head on his shoulder again and Billy this time wrapped an arm around her shoulders too.

“It’s all in the past now.” He muttered softly and she nodded.

“Wake me up when we land.”

“Always.”

––––––––––––––––––

Life settled down into a warm and comfortable routine after that, they got time off to decompress while One found their next smaller missions and all of them had a silent agreement to not talk about Germany for one reason or another.

Anne developed a morning routine for the first time in her life.

Wake up, work out, eat, shower, have fun.

It was simple but it was normal, it was the only sense of normalcy she had left in her life.

The missions themselves were starting to become pretty normal to her, they were small, nothing too high profile but the freedom of normalcy gave way to lots of time deep in thought.

The main thing occupying Anne’s headspace was Billy, her best friend.

She’s spent a lot of time thinking about that title as well, best friend; it seemed wrong to her, it didn't feel right but she couldn't place why it felt so wrong to her.

It could be because recently she has been feeling something more than just usual friendship feelings towards him. The last few missions they ran, Billy and her would tease, hell Anne would tease everyone but with Billy...it just felt different, like their teasing wasn't just teasing, it was more than that, it had feelings, it had promises.

But Anne didn't know, couldn't know, because they never once talked about it at all and even if they did Anne couldn't even put much merit to her feelings either because the only love experience she has is with the boys she dated when she was in university and the guys she would hook up with when with the Camorra so even IF she did love Billy, big if, she wouldn't even know it because she could just be mistaking all these feelings as him also liking her back as him just being nice to her, showing her common kindness, the kindness of...of a friend.

It frustrated Anne to not be able to get answers, she always wants answers, she wants to know the details, it's just in her nature and it's what she does to make sure no one dies and dealing with all these confusing and infuriating emotions isn't helping her, she’s noticed it, she’s starting to slip: losing sleep, getting distracted, more upset, more closed off to certain things. All these feelings have her on the fritz and she wishes that they didn't exist or that she could place where they go.

Lucky for Anne, she doesn't have to dwell on it anymore because her phone rings with One’s text tone and that means mission, which means a wonderful reprieve from her thoughts since she can let the mission take over completely.

“Alright, this mission is part two of a previous one.” One’s tone was harsh, serious, more than usual.

“I just caught wind that the same general who bought those guns in Germany is going to be attending a social function for a few days, it appears that the message we sent with the guns wasn’t received so we’re gonna take him out at the event.” He turned to Anne.

“You’re not making the plans this time.” everyone went still and silent, all looking to One.

“So what do you want me to do then?”

“I need you to play the part of Clair Demont,” he slid a photo towards Anne, they looked similar in the basic features, same hair length and colour, same eyes, their faces were similar enough “she’s the wife of a businessman named Ellis Demont, her husband doesn't like to go out often so there are not many photos of him out there so that means that all we need is someone who had blonde hair and is taller than you.”

All eyes turned to Billy who looked like he was still processing everything that was said to him.

“And what exactly is this plan of yours?” Asked Anne.

“Simple, you and Four will mingle and chat until you find the general then you find a way to talk to him until Seven, who will be perched on the adjacent building, has a clear shot to where you are, Two, Three, Five and I will do the heavy lifting and take out the guards in his room, there are some documents and communications that I need to finish my tracing to another high-class target.”

Anne tried to find fault with the plan but she really couldn't.

“How will Seven know where we are? It’s not like we can talk and not be suspected.”

He smiled wide and nodded.

‘You’ll be wearing your trackers, just say when you found him and wait for my signal to get out of there.”

Damn, he really has thought of everything.

“Your plan seems good, I can't see many faults with it from your description of it. What’s the dress expectations?”

“Fancy, like silk gown fancy.”

Anne nodded and bit her lip, tapping her nails on the table, there was no way she’d be able to find a dress like that in one night.

“I have a dress you can borrow,” Camille said and Anne gave her a thankful smile but also made a mental note to be extra careful with the dress.

“Wonderful, grab your bags we leave in three hours.”

The plane ride there wasn't bad, three hours isn't long but today it felt like a lifetime to Anne. Usually, Anne would spend most of the flight planning but now that she didn't have to Anne was at a loss for what to do, she had been sitting for all of thirty minutes and it felt like forever.

“Alright, come here,” Billy said from beside her and pulled his phone and headphones out offering her one.

“What are you doing?”

“We, are gonna watch a movie to see if it’ll help you calm down, you've been jittery for the whole flight.”

“Sorry, I’m just not used to...this, I usually have work to do to keep me busy.”

“And that's why we're gonna watch a movie.”

With very little hesitation Anne agreed and settled against his side to watch whatever movie he chose, leaning against him comfortably.

And just like that, the plane ride went by in less than a minute.

But it only led her to the same questions as before, this feeling when she’s with Billy, what the fuck was it and how does she make it stop?


	9. This Complicates Things

Standing in the full-length mirror Anne fixed her necklace and toyed with the cross on it, she looked at the locket she had taken off and smiled at it, tucking it away, her mom didn't need to see this.

Taking a step back to look at herself she smiled and turned a little bit, she looked good, fuck that, she looked hot, the dress she wore hugged her body just right and was a beautiful shade of dark blue, her hair was still a little damp over her back and the red lipstick made her look severe.

Today was the first day of a long charity event they would be attending, the job was to eliminate a general that was being given too much power in a country and to both her dismay and pleasure, her and Billy got paired up this time since the rules say all females need a male escort.

“Anne,” Camille called through the door, “let’s go, the reception is starting.”

With one last look in the mirror, she turned around and walked towards the door, the ring on her finger heavy, where it sat.

Her cover was the wife of a rich businessman, Billy, or Ellis, which meant that she'd have to put on the dumb happy act everyone expected of a businessman's wife.

“Good, it fits,” Camille said as she got a chance to examine the dress she had leant to Anne.

“You look good, you’ll fit right in.” She said in a way that didn't settle well with Anne.

Stepping Out of the elevator she spotted Billy, he was in a tux, hair slicked back and slightly to the side and he was sporting a ring matching hers. Anne was ready to devour him alive, he looked good.

Billy turned to her and smiled softly at her but Anne didn't miss the way his eyes raked over her and lingered in places.

“Alright, let's do this, you all remember your roles?” Asked One.

Everyone nodded and moved to go to their agreed-upon spots, leaving Anne alone with Billy.

“You look beautiful tonight, Claire.”

“So do you, Ellis.”

“Shall we?” He asked offering her his arm.

With a smile, Anne looped her arm through his and they made their way inside the ballroom, Anne looking around for the general.

“I don't see him.” She whispered

He nodded and slid an arm around her waist, tugging her close.

This certainly wasn't part of the plan but honestly, Anne really wasn't complaining much.

“Let's go find him then, darling.”

She smirked. “Let's go, my love.”

They moved through the crowd easily, hamming it up for the crowd and acting absolutely smitten with each other, Ellis would hold her close and place kisses to her cheek and temples and Clair would place kisses on his cheeks and then wipe away the lipstick she left over.

As the night went on, they both got more and more into their roles, the lines between her act and feelings were starting to blur more and more, and their teammates comments which at first were distracting were getting easier and easier to ignore as she relaxed both into the role and the arms that didn't leave her body once, Anne wished that they found the general before she did something both of them would regret.

"I found him, he's on the other side of the room," Billy whispered into her ear.

Anne laughed and gave him a light slap on the chest.

"Let's go then."

Their little game resumed, Billy lead them through the crowd, Anne happily followed him preparing herself to have to increase her act even more to placate the man.

They were in front of him now and Anne had a big wide overly friendly grin on her face.

"It's so lovely to meet you.” She greeted and held out her hand to shake, giving a surprised gasp and giggle when the man instead kissed her hand. She felt Billy stiffen behind her and his hands wrapped around her waist, her back being pressed to his chest possessively.

“My names Clair Demont, and this,” she said reaching a hand to cup at Billy’s cheek “is my beautiful husband, Ellis Demont.”

“You don't have to introduce us by full name, my love,” Billy said and pressed a kiss to her neck, under her ear.

Anne shivered a little bit and smiled, turning her head and kissing at his neck in return.

“Well, it’s lovely to meet you, what brings you to the function?” He asked Billy, dismissing Anne completely. The rest of the conversation went just like that, with Anne being ignored with the sole exception of when the general would make lewd sexual comments, Anne was absolutely livid, but going off the way that she was pressed into Billy’s chest, arms wrapping around her much tighter, he also did not like it one bit.

_ "We have a problem with some guards, keep him busy." _ It was One, great they had to entertain this man even more.

They kept talking with the man the rest of the night, Anne growing more and more exhausted with him and his creepy remarks but she kept the happy dumb smile on her face, asking silly questions every once in a while to keep her act, waiting until One gave the order to excuse themselves but stay in the area.

"Alright love birds, Seven has a shot so get out of there."

“My love,” she looked up at Billy with big eyes and pouted her lips a little “ can I have a word with you?” a slight pause “in private?”

Billy swallowed and looked up at the general. “Excuse us please.”

And with that Anne guided him away by the hand with a coy smile on her lips.

“Alright, do your thing.”

There was the sound of glass breaking and a scream, they took off for the elevator.

Anne was the first to take her comms out and kill the line, Billy following after her.

“You were convincing tonight.” He said once their comms were dead and they were alone.

“I could say the same about you.”

The silence was a bit uncomfortable, not because they were awkward, far from it, there was tension, to the point where you could pretty much hold it and it was bound so tight that one wrong move would break it.

The elevator opened up its doors and they walked out and to Anne's room where Billy had left his change of clothes for the night, once inside and with shoes off Anne looked at Billy and laughed softly.

“You have lipstick on your cheek.” She said and moved in front of him to wipe it off.

“Leave it.”

“What?”

“I said leave it, there’s no point, I'm just gonna get more on me anyways.”

Anne stared at him and went to ask him something but couldn't get a single word out because the next second she had lips over hers and it just felt...right.

Anne melted into the kiss, her hands going up to his hair and his neck, pulling him closer to her.

Billy took hold of her hips and walked them back until they hit a wall, Anne gasping in surprise and Billy licking into her mouth, hands sliding down further and further.

“Up you go.” He muttered against her lips and picked her up, Annes legs winding around his hips, fingers in his hair tugging and messing up what was once nicely combed back.

Anne pulled away for air and panted, head falling back against the wall as she smiled.

“Oh god, I’ve wanted to do that since Germany.”

“Oh, you have no fucking idea.”

Billy pulled her back in and pressed even closer to her, Anne's hands leaving his hair and making their way down his chest, undoing the buttons of his shirt, well, doing her best because she wasn't doing a very good job.

“Let me, Annie,” Billy said and pulled her off the wall and sat her on the bed, taking the liberty to undo his shirt.

Anne reached over to the nightstand for a tissue and wiped at her mouth to get the lipstick off.

She stood up and carefully wiped at his face before dropping the tissue, hands pressing themselves to his chest and then slowly sliding down.

“Was wondering what was underneath all those hoodies and sweatpants." She smiled and looked back up at him.

“Take a good look, because I doubt you’ll get much of a chance to see it later.”

Billy pulled her back to his chest and kissed her hard, his hands going to her back looking for the zipper of the dress.

“Be careful, it’s Two’s.” She muttered and giggled at the now gentle tug of the zipper.

She let the dress fall to the floor and looked up at Billy as he eyed her body and her scars.

“Did, they hurt?”

“Most of them yea.”

His hand went to the rather large one on her side, the cause? A very sharp and very painful knife.

“If I see them again it's on sight.”

“Just kiss me.” She sighed and pulled him back, her hands going to his belt, this time she got them off.

Billy stepped out of his pants and practically threw Anne to the bed, climbing on top of her, attacking her neck with kisses and bites, trailing them down as his deft fingers made quick work of her bra, the garment joining the growing pile of clothes.

“Why the fuck didn't we do this sooner?” She asked, hand going to his hair when his kisses reached the top of her underwear.

––––––––––––––––––

Morning came a lot sooner than she'd have liked it too. With a yawn Anne moved to sit up but found that she wasn't just on her side, she was also wrapped up in a firm hold.

Right, Billy.

She was surprised to see him still in bed, usually, the people she slept with would be gone the next morning, or she would but no... he stayed and was still sleeping so peacefully, still holding Anne in a full embrace, it almost reminded her of Germany but this time, they were both very much naked.

Taking advantage of the fact that Billy was still sleeping, Anne took her time to actually we able to look him over.

He was beautiful, her hands slowly made their way up to his chest, starting below the navel, fingers sliding over his stomach, a little bit higher see to his shoulders, finally stopping at his neck.

Not just his body, his face looked just as beautiful, blonde hair all messy and tousled, face relaxed and Serene.

"Good morning to you too Annie." He said and peaked his eyes open, looking down at her.

"Morning, did you sleep well?"

"Oh I slept great " he smiled and pulled her closer, "I managed to get a lot of energy out last night "

Anne hit his chest lightly and shook her head.

He was right though, they went a few times last night and they were both sporting the marks to show it, Anne was covered in blooming hickeys and Billy wasn't faring any better with hickeys and scratches down his back.

"Is that why you stayed?" She asked, laying her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"No," he said with a shrug, "I just wanted to stay, and besides, One is staying right next door and he would have some questions if he heard me go inside at 1am." He said with a small shrug.

Anne smiled and nodded, placing a kiss to his chest.

"Thank you for staying "

"No need Annie," he said and tugged her a little higher to plant a soft kiss to her lips, Anne melting into him so willingly.

They didn't go far after the kiss, just kept cuddling in bed for a while longer until their stomachs made it very clear that they needed to eat.

“I should go shower.”

“Wanna go down for breakfast once we’re both showered?”

“Of course.”

Anne sat up and smiled, placing a kiss to his lips before sliding off the bed, she could feel his eyes on her.

“I’m gonna go shower.”

“Can I join?”

“No, you’ll just make it take ten times as long, I’ll be out in five.” She laughed and kissed his cheek one last time before disappearing into the bathroom.

Breakfast went well, it was still early, around 8 or 9, so the team likely wasn't awake yet anyways and it gave them time to enjoy being able to wear clothes with low necklines for a little while until it was strictly sweaters and hoodies until the hickies went away.

They spent the time chatting about anything other than what happened, it was like there was a silent agreement between them that this was a one-time thing, that it wouldn't happen again so why bother mentioning it.

Finally, Anne thought to herself as she finished up her drink, she finally had the answer to her agonizing questions of what she felt towards Billy, and that was lust at that moment, finally, she would be able to get rid of those questions and just leave it at that.

Back on the plane, Anne was now wearing the hoodie she stole from Billy and concealer on her neck to try and hide the marks he had left behind.

While Anne had been somewhat successful Billy had not been, his hickeys peaked over his jacket every once in a while and it had Anne on edge the entire ride back to California. One had the decency this time to tell them that they wouldn't be staying for very long, a few days since he already had more missions for them, apparently those documents he found only opened up more paper trails for him to track down so they had quite a few more trips to make and many more people that needed to be dealt with.

“You saw them too right?”

“Yea, I did which means it goes to five.”

Anne tilted her head at the others as they all handed Amelia money and she smiled happily, stowing the money away in her bag.

“And you all doubted me.”


	10. Not The First Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter one haha sorry about that

Anne fell back onto the mattress panting hard, face and skin flushed and very pleasant ache between her legs, Billy wasn't too far behind as he fell beside her. They laid there for a little while longer just trying to catch their breaths, the silence in the room deafening compared to the lewd words, moans and muffled screams that filled the room just moments earlier.

This wasn't the first time this has happened, nor was it the second, honestly speaking Anne had lost track of how many times she ended up in bed with the man; the questions she had thought were squashed down were starting to rise back up again inside her, was it really just lust? Was she only interested in Billy for his body? Was she happy just staying friends...or whatever they were right now? The two of them never talked about it, the silent agreement they formed the first time they hooked up still stands between them even though it's no longer just a one time thing, it's changed into a semi-regular occurrence for them, the one thing that hasn't changed though is the excuses for it, they were both at fault of this truthfully, the one they were using tonight was that they were drunk, had taken advantage of the open bar of the hotel but the excuses varied anywhere from being frustrated from a mission gone wrong or that they're stressed from anything.

Anne rolled over on her side and gave a slightly lopsided smile to Billy.

“You were really good tonight.” She said moving a little closer to him, her hands moving up to his chest and then up to his shoulders.

Billy smiled and held her hips tightly, tugging Anne closer to him.

“So were you.”

And then they were kissing again, hands roaming all over, tugging on hair and pushing for dominance, this time Billy let her win.

The funny part about all of this is that through this little game of one night stands that happen more than one night, Billy’s learned a lot about her, her past, her old life, where she came from and she’s also learned a lot about him as well.

He used to be a thief that ran with a ‘crew’ of sorts, they were never really close but more people is always easier as he says, he died after one of his teammates let him fall off a building after grabbing some jewels, his mother tried her best but couldn't always provide so he also did his best, he’s been arrested a few times for indecent exposure. Truly a colourful life.


	11. One Last Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back to Billy's POV for this one, its not as short as 10

Standing in the main room as One gave them all a debriefing was giving him heavy flashbacks to Turgistan, and he very much remembered how much of an absolute shit show that was for all of them but especially him, since he nearly got killed twice on that mission and what One was saying now, about a president that's been getting just a bit too daring with his weapons making and manufacturing was giving him that same feeling of dread, but now they had Anne so, hopefully, this time it would go well or at least no one would die.

Billy took a step outside to one of the offices in the lot, sitting down in front of an old television set and a pile of DVDs of Leave it to Beaver. As he sat there, he let his mind wander to a few nights before when he ended up pressing Anne into the sheets of his hotel room for the god knows what time. At first, he was content to just hook up with her, his excuses were somewhat truthful but then they weren't, they were lies to the both of them so they didn't feel guilty and so they could hide from their feelings but now, left alone with them Billy could see them for what they were, he liked Anne a lot more than as just a casual hook up after missions because every single time he was with her the same feeling plagued him, a fluttery feeling in his chest that felt like he was having a fucking stroke but no, it's just love apparently.

So now his only issue is the guilt that comes with the fact that he really likes Anne and has proper feelings for her and she doesn't.

Maybe I should just tell her?

No, it would make it awkward.

Do I just keep hooking up with her them?

No, you’d only get your hopes up and project feelings.

So, should I just stop sleeping with her?

Yea, that seems like your option now, at least put more time between your visits.

With a heavy sigh Billy got up from his chair, grabbed his bag and went to the plane to wait for the others, they were leaving earlier so Anne could have as much time as she needed to make sure they all got out of that place alive.

The plane ride was silent, it was tense as they all prepared for another big mission that could end like the last one, one of them dead.

He glanced over at Anne, who was pouring over maps and plans and notes One had given her to make sure they were all safe, she’d been working on it since they left and it was stressing her out a lot, Billy could tell.

Recently he’d seen her from all angles, inside and out, he learned her tells and cues and right now she was hitting all the stress cues; he brow was wrinkled, her foot was bouncing, she hadn't eaten or drank water in a good while, she was tapping the table incessantly and was talking to herself quietly.

“Hey, why don't you take a break? Stand up, stretch, drink some water.” He asked from beside her.

“I…” she paused and looked at her work again “sure, I think I just need to take a look at it with fresh eyes anyways.”

Anne slid the pencil behind her ear and stood up to go get water and stretch, groaning a little bit.

Billy’s eyes tracked her for a little while before he shook his head and looked down at what she was doing on the table in front of them. He squinted a little bit as he tried to make sense of anything she had down, he recognized the maps and plans but Anne had written all over them, marking them up with X’s and O’s, drawing movements over them and her notebook wasn't any easier to understand, it was barely legible in the few places where there were words written rather than the sketches of rooms.

“They’re a bit messy.”

“A bit? Annie, there are only pictures and I can still barely understand them.” He laughed and sighed.

“It’s the system that I use for marking up maps, the X’s are approximate positions of anyone that isn't us and the O’s are us, the red lines are entrances and exits and the blues are windows.” She said as she pointed to the various things on the map.

Okay, a little easier to understand.

“Something just doesn't seem right with this, I feel like there’s either something missing or something that shouldn't be there and it's throwing me for a loop.” She explained, her brows furrowing again.

“Leave it for a little while, sleep, I can wake you up in an hour.” He offered and she sighed, shaking her head.

Okay, no sleeping then.

“You need a break, you've been working on this for hours.” He reasoned and she relented and nodded, leaning back and into his side.

“Good girl.” He muttered and wrapped an arm around her, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head, rubbing at her arm.

"Is something bothering you?” He asked softly.

“Is something bothering  _ you _ ?” she asked in return. “We always talk about me, are you doing okay?”

I’m hopelessly in love with you.

I want to actually tell you but you don't feel the same.

I could die and never get to properly tell you.

“I’m scared,” he decided “Last big mission we lost one, and I almost got killed twice, I'm scared that this might be my last mission.”

Anne stared up at him with sad eyes, and an expression he wished he could kiss away.

“I won't let you die, even if I have to drag your ass out of there myself.” She said with a small smile. Anne took a quick look around and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

“You still gotta show me how your skills anyways.”

Billy rolled his eyes and nodded.

In the hotel, Anne gathered them all in her room where she had been pouring over maps again.

“Alright, this place —going off the intel One got— is going to be a bitch and a half to get into, the tower can be put into lockdown from the basement, no one gets in, no one gets out, all power’s cut to anything non-essential, but the glorious thing of a basement is that there are vents.” She grinned slyly before pointing to a section of the map, the same one from the plane but now even harder to understand.

“This is a ventilation shaft on the side of the building, it's on the second floor for security reasons but it leads straight to the control room.”

“So Billy gets in there and kills the guard?” One cut in.

Anne shook her head and her smile tuned downright evil, that was definitely a new look...but it was kind of hot.

“No, no, no,” she drawled, “we’re gonna put the building into lockdown.”

The others were silent, what the hell was Anne talking about?

“There are two access points, the front door and the roof, my suggestion is doing what you did in the Ni Hai Tower, that is, laughing gas, nitrous through the vents once the building is under lockdown should take out more of the guards on the main levels. You’ll all move as a team from the roof, clearing floors on your way down, the office should be in the center of the tower, Billy, you're gonna need a big gun because you're gonna clear your way up, scanning for the president, and I’ll—”

“Absolutely not, you're staying put nearby.”

Everyone’s heads shot to look at One, staring at him like he was insane but he stood his ground.

“Last time we didn't have someone to guide us out, we got into serious shit, you stay put and track us, get us out if something goes wrong, got it?” His tone was terrifying, and his stance was even worse. Billy glanced at Anne and saw her eyes flash with fear as she flinched from the tone, ducking her head quickly.

“Yes, sir.” She said in a small voice, hands gripping at the table tightly.

Billy wanted to throttle him into the nearest table.

Looking around quickly, some of the others were looking at Anne with concern and worry at her shift in attitude.

God how he wanted to make her feel better right now.

“Well that's all, you can all go.” She said still staring at the table.

“First light tomorrow.” One called as they left.

Billy made his move to leave but ended up shutting the door.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked walking up to her, hands gripping her arms carefully.

“Yea I’m okay, sorry.”

“What happened?”

“One...he just looked and sounded so much like my old boss.”

FUCKER

“But it’s okay, I’m okay.” She nodded and reached up to rub at his cheek, a smile so fond and pretty on her lips.

God, he wanted to kiss her senseless right now.

Anne stared up at him for a moment and bit her lip.

“How do you tell someone to have good luck without bringing them bad luck?” She asked after a while of silence.

“You say stuff like break a leg, chookas if you're an Aussie, or...you can wish it with a kiss.”

Anne hummed softly and pretended to be in thought for a little while.

“Those all sound like great options but I think I like the last one the best.” She smiled and batted her eyes up at him.

You said you weren't gonna do this.

One last time couldn't hurt.

Billy hummed and nodded, leaning down, ghosting his lips over hers.

“Yea, I really like that one too.” He whispered and pressed his lips to hers slowly, tonight he had no intention of being as rough as always because the reality is that he might not see her again, and besides this was easier than telling Anne how he felt.

“Oh my god.” Anne groaned deliciously underneath him, back arching up, legs tightening around his waist and fingers digging near painfully into his back.

Billy looked down at her and let his eyes rake all over, she was fucking beautiful, curves and edges in all the right places.

“Thought you didn't believe anymore.” He smirked and tightened his grip on her hips, leaning down to place open-mouthed kisses down her neck and to her breasts.

“I think you’re making me reconsider.”

Billy smirked and pulled back, bracing his arms on either side of her head.

“Good.”

He watched as she absolutely shattered underneath him after that.


	12. I Didn't Notice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Anne

The morning of the mission wasn't a fun one.

They were all out of bed before dawn and were suited up as the sun was rising, as the sun reached its peak they were in their positions.

Anne wouldn't be going in with them and it still didn't settle well with her but she knew why One put her out here.

_ “Alright, Ghosts, the channel’s live and I have all of you pinging on my screens, check-in.” _

_ “Everyone's here, we got ammo and our masks on.” _

_ “Thanks, Seven, Four, take it away, I’ll guide you through the vents.” _

_ “Sounds great.” _

Anne watched as Billy’s marker move to the side of the building and stayed there, over the comms she could hear his heavy breathing which brought back thoughts of the night before in her room and the fun words whispered between them.

_ “I’m in, what now.” _

_ “Forward, don't talk I’ll tell you when to turn.” _

_ “Bossy.” _

_ “Left.” _

…

_ “You're right over it what do you see?” _

_ “Two guys, one at the desk another at the door,” he whispered _

_ “Mask on, drop the nitrous.” _

_ “Copy.” _

Not being able to see what was going on past her computer screen was annoying but she trusted her team to tell her what to do and when to do it.

There was struggling on the other side of the line but Billy’s voice came over again.

_ “Guards and everyone else in the other rooms are laughing like idiots.” _

_ “The rest of you drop the nitrous, Four press the button when I tell you to.” _

_ “Got it.” _

_ “Sounds good.” _

Anne patiently waited for them to do as she ordered, from her point she could see the building and was watching the sides for anything that might indicate trouble.

_ “Were inside, Four, shut that shit down.” One _

_ “The building is now a fortress.” _

_ “You guys know what to do, top floor start sweeping down, Four, start mowing them down, the gas is gonna need a bit to reach your floors so I suggest throwing the extras I gave you as you progress through the floors, and remember ghosts, mow them down.” _

Anne could hear them shouting commands through the line, chatting and pissing each other off as well, she did join in on most of the comments but her happy mood was shattered when she glanced at her maps to check out if they were moving in the directions she wanted and noticed an inconsistency with her digital mockups.

_ “Freeze, all of you! Don't move!” _

She shouted across the lines which received a lot of protests from all of them as they found cover.

_ “Eight, what the fuck?” _ Two hissed through the line as Anne tried to cross-check the maps.

_ “Shit, fuck, I knew something was weird.” _

_ “What's wrong?” _ Asked One, an edge to his voice.

_ “A lot of stuff.” _

_ “Specificity.” _ He hissed.

_ “The maps were altered, the digital maps and the paper maps are showing inconsistencies.” _

_ “Which map is right then?” _ Billy

Anne scanned through the screen and then managed to find their spots on the map

Fuck fuck fuck, think.

_ “Five, what's right next to you?” _

_ “A washroom.” _

_ “The paper maps are wrong, which means I’m gonna have to start improvising.” _

_ “That's what I got you for, now do it.” _

Anne took a deep breath and nodded.

_ “Four, keep going, floor by floor, use the fire exits, the president's guards would have masks, so find the most heavily guarded room.” _

_ “Rest of you keep clearing the floor but work fast, four’s on his own and he’s fucked if he finds the office first.” _

_ “Thanks for the confidence Eight.” _

Anne was on edge, hyper-focused on what was going on with them, if her maps were wrong then her plans were shot, even if they didn't touch the altered rooms, she had no way of knowing what was accurate on the paper map.

The team met up with Billy on the eleventh floor and when they busted the door open, Anne was right, there was a shit ton of guards and all of them were wearing masks.

Anne could only watch and listen as they dealt with them the best they could, they were struggling and all Anne could do was tell them where there might be guards or good hiding spots.

There was screaming on the line Anne drew in a breath, she knew there were still guards and that could have been one of the team.

_ “He’s dead, a bullet between the eyes.” _ Javier

_ “Everyone, out now, if you see a staircase take it, the gas is wearing off so move fast.” _

Anne proceeded to guide everyone out, yelling commands quick and sharp, scared out of her mind but in her element.

_ “Fuck!” _ it was Billy, his tracker said he was on the ground floor but that he was in a dead-end hallway.

Shit, she wasn't paying enough attention to them all, switching between the markers was causing her to miss things like a dead-end hallway.

She was about to ask him what happened when she heard another voice over the line and then the sound of a struggle.

_ “Knife!” _ He shouted and Anne stiffened.

_ “Seven, get him out of there, hang a left now and go straight, run.” _

There was more struggling and then a painful scream, this time a man’s, Billy’s, then a shot rang through.

_ “He’s been stabbed, Five I need you out front of the building.” _

Anne’s heart dropped, she checked the screen one last time and saw everyone outside, good, she thought.

Anne grabbed the first aid kit and bolted to the building as fast as she could, thankfully, she wasn't very far and reached him in decent time.

“Here.” She panted and handed Amelia the kit.

Amelia nodded and Anne stood back to watch her work, kneeling down beside Billy to look at him.

“I’m sorry, god I’m so sorry, I didn't notice.”

“Hey,” he groaned, “it’s alright, it happens.”

Billy’s eyes closed and Anne’s vision clouded over with tears as she looked to Amelia who was doing her best to patch him up.


	13. Hurts Like A Bitch

Five managed to stop the bleeding and get Billy stable enough to get him to the car where she then started stitching him up, thankfully Billy had passed out from pain by now so he didn't have to feel the stitches.

They were back at the hotel now, in Billy’s room, the others had gone out to do various things, to go check on the building, to get some air, to get medication or to get dinner and alcohol.

Anne had offered to stay behind and they let her, she was a mess and the guilt was eating away at her.

After enough time pacing, she looked over at Billy’s body in bed and walked over to him, climbing into bed, sitting next to him.

“I’m so sorry I got you into this mess.”

Her hand rubbed at his cheek then she moved it to run her fingers through his hair, he was sticky from the mission but she really didn't care she just wanted him to be okay.

Her mind was processing things at inconsistent speeds, still reeling from everything, that she didn't know how much time had passed as she sat with him, playing with his hair.

“That feels really nice.”

Anne looked down at him and smiled wide cupping his cheeks.

“Oh thank god you're awake.”

Billy laughed and made to sit up and she winced when he gave a pained hiss and clutched at his sides, stitches pulling a bit.

“Hurts like a bitch huh?”

“Yea, you don't have any idea.”

“Actually I do.”

Anne lifted her shirt to expose the scar on her hip, start white against her skin and one of the most visible ones.

“You never told me.”

“You never asked.” She smiled and handed him a glass of water and two pills.

“Here, Amelia said it would help with the pain, they could make you a bit loopy but not much.”

“Are you my nurse now?”

“Not quite, I'm the only one that lives close enough to you and knows how to deal with wounds and stitches.”

“Shame.”

Anne smiled and shook her head, settling in the bed again, letting her head catch up to everything that happened.

“Come here, Annie,” Billy said and raised his arm up. Anne smiled softly and slotted herself into his side being careful not to jostle him much as she did.

They chatted for a while, Anne trying to distract Billy from his wound and the pain he was probably in.

That strange feeling in her chest returning, making her feel lightheaded and airy, she didn't like the feeling but it wasn't her main concern, head just trying to deal with the worry and guilt and relief of knowing that she had Billy safe and not hurt.

The plane ride back to California wasn't as bad, it was less tense and everyone was having fun, even Billy for a little while before Anne, on advice from Amelia, knocked him out with some sleeping pills so he could rest and let his stitches heal up.

Laughing at a crude joke from Javier Anne felt a tap on her shoulder, turning around she smiled at Amelia.

“What's up?”

“Can you do me a favour?”

“Yea, what is it?”

“Check in on him every once in a while, make sure he's resting, check his stitches, all that.”

Anne nodded and tilted her head slightly.

“Of course but why?”

“Because he’ll probably lie and say he’s fine then get an infection and you live the closest to him anyways.”

Anne nodded and offered her a smile, glancing back at Billy seeing him knocked out were she left him

Ane ended up driving Billy home that night too, as he was still high on pain medication and drowsy from the sleeping pills she gave him.

“Come on big guy, let's get inside.”

Anne smiled and helped Billy out of the car, catching him the best she could when he stumbled.

“Where're your keys?”

“Hoodie pocket.” He mumbled and clung to Anne tightly.

Anne nodded and grabbed his key from his pocket.

Getting into his apartment was a hassle as Billy was acting like either a drunk or a child, take your pick, he was spouting random sentences, clinging to Anne and was prone to emotional outbursts occasionally, but with much patience, they made it inside and Anne got him laid down in bed.

“Are you leaving me now?” He asked with a heavy pout that made her heart melt, he looked like a little puppy.

“Not if you don't want me to.” She answered and sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing at his chest softly, watching the hazy smile slide to his face at the feeling.

“Can you stay? Please?”

Anne nodded, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead softly.

“Of course I’ll stay, come on, let's get out out of these clothes and into more comfortable ones.” Anne smiled and went to his closet, looking through it until she found clothes she deemed comfortable, loose pyjama pants and a white shirt.

“Can you stand up for me?” with a small groan he did as she asked him.

Getting Billy dressed was a challenge because he chose that moment to get all handsy and flirty, making comments about how usually they do this backwards and all that, his hands were trying to grab at her and she was slapping them away every single time but eventually with enough force and stern looks she got him laying down and under the covers.

“Sleep, you're on a lot of medication right now, sleep should help make you feel a little better.”

He pursed his lips and nodded.

“Can you...do that thing you did back at the hotel..to my hair?” He asked, eyes squinting as he tried to remember what it was called.

Anne tilted her head and moved her hand to his hair, fingers running through the smooth strands, she held back a laugh at the way Billy purred and melted underneath her fingers.

“You look adorable.” She smiled and watched him slide his eyes closed, not a moment later his face relaxed and his breathing evened out.

Anne stood up from the side of the bed and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her, leaving a quick note in case he woke up, she left to head to her place to grab a quick shower and change before heading back to Billy’s to watch him until the medication wore off and give him the weaker dose one.

Anne was in his kitchen cooking up dinner for them when she heard the bedroom door open and footsteps come to the kitchen.

“Sleep well?” She asked from the stove. Arms wrapped around her waist and a face buried itself in her neck.

“Yea but I feel like shit right now.” He whined out and stayed there, holding onto her, waiting for Anne to give him attention.

Anne turned around in his arms and looked up at him. “What do you want?”

“Food.” He pouted and she laughed, motioning behind her.

“Dinner’s ready, go take a shower and we can eat.”

With another loud whine from him, he left the room but popped his head back in.

“Are you gonna stay over?”

“I was planning to pop by until you were better.” it wasn't a no but it wasn't a yes either.

“I have the guest room made up if you do.” He shrugged and disappeared again leaving Anne to think over his offer...practically speaking, it was best for her to stay over because then she could make sure he was okay and make sure he took his medication but emotionally she didn't know if she could handle it so rather than thinking it over, Anne busied herself with plating them dinner and saving the leftovers for lunch the next day.

“DInner!” Billy called excitedly from the hallway as he practically ran into the kitchen.

“Hey! Don't run you'll fuck up your stitches!” She scolded and sat down at the table, glaring when he sat down too, a sheepish smile on his face.

“I’m sorry, I’m just so hungry.” He said digging into the food with a speed that said he really was hungry.

Anne smiled and ate her food slower than him, taking time to examine Billy once again, he looked fine, wasn't pale, eyes were a normal colour and his face had a red flush from the shower, all in all, he looked fine for a person that’s been stabbed.

“Amelia said you’d probably be out of commission for a week or two, but look on the bright side, now we’ll have matching scars.” She beamed at him and he laughed softly.

“If you're the one taking care of me then I don't think it'll be too bad.” He mused and went back to his food.

Taking care of Billy wasn't actually that difficult, after the first day he calmed down a lot and was much more settled, only occasionally whining like a child but it was usually because he wanted Anne’s attention or he was in pain, and now that he had calmed down Anne had gotten enough peace and quiet to actually be able to think over her feelings, recently they'd become more violent, sending her heart a mile a minute with the smallest action he did, the most minute smile or even something she would notice and at that very moment she realized that what she was feeling wasn't actually lust, not even close, it was fucking love, love, that was the thing keeping her up at night for days at a time, it was lust...love.

Yea that realization came to her in the middle of the night and ever since she’d been reeling with her previous actions, thinking that even if she had a chance before, their hookups ruined it hard, and on top of that the guilt of the mission was still chipping away at her sanity, no matter how many times Billy said that he didn't care, and that it was okay, that he was healing and that he was more than happy to finally be able to stay at home. She knew he was lying on the last part, Anne could see the way he was practically itching to get out of the house, to work out, to climb, to do anything other than sit around all day and do whatever and honestly, Anne felt really bad for him because she knew just how much Billy loved being outside so it really did kill her.

When she saw that he wasn't in pain any longer Anne decided to pull a favour from an old friend of hers.

_ “Alright, I got you what you asked for, the invitations are in your inbox and you're on the guest list, does that clear me?” _

_ “Yes, your debt to me is paid, I’ll delete your contact.” _

Anne hung up the phone and checked her emails, there they were, two invitations to a prestigious gala hosted by a rich family that used to profit off the Camorra but cut ties and moved.

“Who was that Annie?”

“Just someone who owed me a favour, speaking of, do you still have that tux?”

Billy gave her a cautious nod, face twisting into confusion.

“Wonderful we’re attending a gala in two days.”

“Wait what? Why?” He asked, giving Anne a look like she was crazy.

She sighed and nodded. “Yea, I can see how much you wanna get out of the house so I pulled a few favours with an old friend of mine who owed me a favour, think of it as an official and final apology from me for getting you stabbed.”

Billy gave her a look, the same one he gave when she apologized but this time he put up no fuss, seeming to accept it.

“Okay, what time is it?”

“It starts at six, but it'll take an hour to get there.”

“I’ll pick you up at a quarter to five then.” he smiled simply and Anne nodded to him.

“Just don't dress too fancy, don't know if I’ll be able to stay till the end of the gala.”

Billy winked at her and Anne’s face heated up.


	14. A Night To Remember

Anne spun around in her dress, watching it spin.

Anne made her way to the living room and sat on the couch waiting for Billy to text her.

While waiting she decided it would be a good idea to let at least one of the team know that she was going dark tonight and didn't want to be bothered.

_ “Hey, it’s Anne, I’m going dark tonight, I won't be available unless it's an emergency.” _

She hit send on the message to Amelia and turned her phone to it's do not disturb setting.

A phone buzzing with a message made her practically fly from the couch, grab her bag and hurry out of the apartment, down the front steps and to the slick blue car waiting.

Opening the door and sliding inside she threw a delicate smile and leaned over to place a soft kiss to the man's cheek.

"I thought I said to not dress too fancy tonight." He smiled and looked at her dress, placing a hand over hers.

"This is one of my favourite dresses, and besides it's the only one remotely appropriate for a gala."

"Fine then but don't blame me if we have to leave early."

She let out a warm laugh and hummed softly, squeezing his hand a little tighter and looked out at the passing scenery as they got farther away from the city.

"Hey, can I ask you something stupid?" He muttered after a while of silence

"Of course you can darling"

"What exactly do you DO at a gala?"

"Well you usually have dinner, entertainment, dancing and drinks to loosen up conversation, usually it's not so classy but the host insisted on hosting it like a proper affair with waltzing and fancy silk gowns and all that, but if you want, I can do most of the talking, I did ask for a private table for us so you don't have to worry much about conversing over dinner."

A small silence followed as he processed everything she said, his nerves were practically coming in waves.

"There's no need to be nervous darling, I promise it'll be fun"

"I know it'll be fun but I'm just...I don't know I just don't want to make a fool of myself and embarrass you."

"And you won't, the people who attend the galas are usually wonderful people and you will never embarrass me" she turned to him and gripped his hand tighter "and even if you did who gives a fuck? It's just a gala with stuffy people, they don't matter."

He smiled softly and nodded, glancing over and pulled her hand up to place a soft kiss on it.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me for telling the truth."

The ride went along those lines, with them conversing, joking and just generally having a pretty good time but as they pulled up to the house of the host Anne felt the energy shift but chose not to comment on it for the time being.

She smiled at the valet that opened the door and took Billy's hand as they headed inside, the car being taken care of.

"Relax darling, everything is going to be perfectly fine."

Anne said softly and handed over their invitations, whisking him inside and steadily closer to the stairs for some privacy.

"Alright, what's wrong? Where's the man that I've seen leap off a building?"

Anne asked once they were safely tucked away in an alcove in the wall.

"He's here but I'm just so nervous, I'm not like these people I don't know the ways to behave and I don't wanna make you look bad.."

He proceeded to keep rambling on and she let him, perhaps it is a little bit mean but he looked adorable can you blame her? Deciding he'd had a good time to vent she gently cupped his cheek and pulled him down to place a soft kiss to his lips, his hands finding her waist quickly and his lips mirroring hers just as fast but she ended the kiss before it could go too far.

"You have nothing to worry about, we're both dead, we're here under names that aren't ours, I don't have a reputation and you, my dear, are looking sharp as ever so don't give me that 'I don't fit in' bullshit, so what? They don't know how you are in your element, they don't know how confident you can actually be."

She said with a smile and kissed the corner of his mouth looking up to him as he thought of how to respond.

"Thanks...again, Annie, you always know what to say."

He smiled, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and then pulled away abruptly, took a deep breath and puffed out his chest a little bit.

"Alright then, let's go meet stuffy rich fuckers."

He said in an all too serious tone, making Anne bark out a laugh as she leaned into him a little bit.

"Alright Lancelot, let's go mingle."

She said still giggling a little and pulled Billy back down the stairs and onto the main area for socializing.

The pre-dinner talking went swimmingly as they floated from group to group, person to person chatting and discussing various topics, from politics to travelling, for the most part lying to their faces. Billy, who was quiet and fairly awkward at first quickly warmed up the affair, no doubt helped by the drinks they were given, but he joined in more, and overall looked like he was having a really good time.

"It's dinner time, love," she said and then turned to the lady they were speaking with "it was so lovely to meet you, hopefully, we can catch each other after dinner as well."

She was lying through her teeth, Anne did not expect to see the women again after dinner, and she also didn't expect to make it past the first dance either with the way Billy was acting.

"Dinner already? It's felt like twenty minutes."

He said as they made their way across the now open dining hall, looking for their table.

"It's been an hour you were just having a good time, you looked like it anyways- thank you"

She sat down and set the napkin on her lap.

"You see what I mean? You fit in just fine, you were worrying for nothing."

"I guess you're right, it wasn't that bad after a while..."

He trailed off, blushing a bit.

Anne just smiled at him and reached over to stroke his cheek and then drop her hand to hold his over the table.

Dinner went by in a blur because other than the location and the attire it was no different than when they normally had dinner together, they laughed, joked, played with their food and were amazingly vulgar.

And before either of them knew it, dessert was being set down in front of them and you could faintly hear the orchestra tuning and warming up in the other room.

"Dance with me after dinner?"

She asked through a spoonful of cheesecake

"First of all, don't speak with your mouth full," he said with his mouth full "and secondly, I would love to dance with you."

Anne loved to dance, she always danced with her mother and her father before everything fell apart between them, there was always this warm feeling underneath her skin whenever she danced, it felt bubbly and nice, like hot sun peeking through leaves in the summer, it was something she hadn't felt in years but now heading to the dance floor she felt it again and only now did she realize how much she truly did miss it.

"I haven't danced in...years "

She commented as Billy lead them across the floor with the other couples as the orchestra played in the background.

"Neither have I, I'm surprised I still remember."

He laughed and held her close, looking down and into her eyes.

"I used to dance a lot with my mother and father but we drifted apart after everything happened and I've never danced after that."

"Well, I feel honoured to be your first dance in so long."

He smiled and guided then off the dance floor and back upstairs again.

"Where are you taking me, Billy?"

"Somewhere more private and more open, that place was getting too stuffy."

He grinned and opened the doors to one of the balconies, pulling her over and to his chest as the door closed behind them with a soft click, the sounds of the party fading away.

"That's much better."

He said, leaning over to nuzzle at her neck a little bit.

"You're looking so fucking pretty tonight, that dress, those heels... everything about you tonight is so pretty.” He muttered softly and placed soft airy kisses down her neck.

"I can say the same about you, god you look so nice in a suit, it's a real shame you need to wear loose clothes on missions."

She smiled and pulled his face up and kissed him, harder than was probably needed, but they didn't mind much as they got into a rhythm, a steady push and pull that ended up with Anne against the wall, caged in by Billy; her hands running through and messing up his hair, his hands on her waist and not so slowly sliding farther down.

"We should stop."

She breathed between kisses

"Yeah maybe."

There was a smile on his lips as he kissed her harder, a small gasp falling from her when he finally grabbed her ass through the dress.

"Let's go back to your place, I don't wanna do this in a stranger's house...not tonight anyway"

She smirked and gently pushed him away.

"You're a dream you know that?"

He chuckled darkly and whisked her away bee-lining for the door.

As soon as they got inside the apartment Anne was turned around and pressed into the door, lips attaching to hers, her hands frantically moved to his suit jacket, sliding it off then to his shirt and unlike Germany, she managed to get this one unbuttoned, she pressed her hands to his chest and let them roam all over then slide to his back and tug him closer.

“Bedroom,” she panted, nails running lightly over his back, “right fucking now.”

Now that they were in Billy’s apartment and not in a hotel next to the team, they could both absolutely let go and from the way that Billy was holding Anne down in the bed, he realized that and made it his mission to let her know.

Anne wasn't much different, clinging to Billy and moaning so loud the neighbours were probably worried.

They’d never actually done this in their own houses before it was always in a hotel room while on a mission, far away from their lives which could be a reason as to why it felt different for Anne, that now they were in a space where the sex was personal but it could also be that the feelings that used to come up for her when they would do this on missions were gone, she knew what they were and now that they weren't there she could actually just enjoy this moment with him; enjoy the feeling of his skin, the way he sounded, his expression, the pleasant weight of him on top of her and the way he hit every spot that made her see white and her toes curl.


	15. Let's Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is fairly short but it's one of my favourites

The smell of food woke Anne up from her sleep.

Sitting up in bed with a slight headache she looked around and tried to remember where she was, then she saw her dress on the floor and everything came back, right, the gala.

Looking around she found no Billy insight but from the smell assumed he was in the kitchen. Anne slid out of bed and dug through his closet for one of his hoodies, choosing the one that was one size too big on Billy and like three on her, deciding that was enough coverage she opened the door and walked out of the room and to the kitchen.

“Good morning.” She smiled and wrapped her arms around Billy’s torso, pressing her hands to his chest.

“Morning Annie.”

“Why didn't you wake me up?”

“You’ve been taking care of me for the past two weeks, I wanted to take care of you, and besides you looked way too pretty.” He smiled and turned around, pressing a kiss to her lips before taking the plate in his hands and setting it on the table with his.

“Come eat.”

Anne nodded and slid into the seat across from his smiling up at him before taking a bite, humming at the taste.

“Good?”   
“Amazing.” She laughed and kept eating.

Anne finished up her food and looked down at her plate, biting her lip before taking a deep breath.

“Billy, can we talk? About everything?”

He stared at her for a second, the look on his face hard to read and she had a feeling that he knew what she was going to talk to him about, Anne just hoped that he wouldn't reject her.

“Look, I know that after Germany we never really talked about...us,” She paused, hands shaking a little, “I really like you, like  _ a lot,  _ and I get that you might not and I only kind of recently actually figured it out, so it wasn't while we were actually fucking…”

She kept rambling on, nerves showing clear as day but stopped abruptly when Billy stood up and walked over to her.

“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to hear you say that?”

what?

“I mean, the general message of it all.” He laughed and pressed a hard kiss to her lips which she was more than glad to return.

“Oh thank god, I thought you were gonna say you didn't like me back.” She laughed and hugged him tightly.

“Never.” He said and picked her up, spinning her around.

After they both settled down from their excitement over their feelings being mutual they did have an actual talk about everything they wanted and how it was going to work out with the team. The decision they came to was to just not tell them, it would be harder to deal with two couples and besides it was so much fun having to sneak around the others that they didn't really want to give that up, overall nothing would change with the exception that they didn't have to dance around their feelings.

––––––––––––––––––

And their lives went back to normal, or as normal as they were before everything.

They still went on missions with the team and still went back to their own houses after they were finished but now they did need excuses to see each other, they would go on dates after mission or just shut down all communication with the team and just stay with each other, patching up wounds and then just existing.

This system worked for a pretty long while but slowly Anne has noticed that stuff has started to bleed through into their every day.

Billy would often go to hug her or hold her hand and they both would notice and play it off quickly.

Anne has often found herself almost referring to him when talking about her plans or what she did over a break.

They’ve been referencing inside jokes, forgetting that the team didn't know them or were even there when they were made.

The one thing she noticed the most was touching, it became something so normal to them to give little comforting touches to the other or if one of their backs were turned as a way to silently say ‘I’m here, don't punch me if you hear a loud noise really close by’, but more and more Anne has noticed that Billy will walk behind her on the plane or on base and press his hand to the small of her back and that she would do the same with no real reason, the team had to have been blind to not notice


	16. Come Clean

“Can I talk to you a second...in private?”

Blain looked at Camille with a raised eyebrow but nodded and followed her outside of the plane.

“Have you noticed something different with Anne and Billy?”

He hummed and now that he thought about it, yes he had.

“Yea, more so with Billy, he’s been more...I don't know, careful? He hasn't been doing his usual stupid stuff.”

Camille nodded looked over at the door.

“Anne’s been going dark more often than usual, at first it was fine since it wasn't that often but it's been happening more regularly.”

“Do you think something’s up with them?”

“Yes, and I have the perfect way to find out how.”

“And that is?” He asked cautiously, he has seen what this woman can do.

“I’m gonna go find them when they inevitably disappear in a while.”

––––––––––––––––––

True to her word, a little while after Camille and Blaine went back inside the plane, she saw Anne and Billy walk out into the lot together, giving them a few minutes to get ahead Camille stood up and followed after them.

What she saw was sweet, Billy was holding her close by the waist and when they got into the office, she could see him press a kiss to her lips through the window, so she was right after all.

Camille watched them for a little while longer to make sure she was right then walked up to the door and opened it, giving them proper frights.

“Hello, you two.” She smiled and watched their faces drain of colour.

They ended up coming clean to the team after a quick chat with Camille. And no one was particularly surprised, as while the two of them were particularly good at hiding the fact that they were dating, they weren't good at hiding their actions towards each other. Which gave Anne her answer, they had witnessed every slip up between them.

“That means that I win then.” Camille smiled and held her hand out as the others all gave her twenty dollars.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, coming back from the kill the general mission, I saw you all give Amelia the same thing, what bet was that?” Asked Anne, looking between all of them.

“We all bet different things, Javi said nothing would happen, Camille said you would end up together, Blain said you’d both be too dense to do anything about whatever was happening there, and I said that you'd hook up, I won.” Amelia smiled and Anne wanted to DIE, covering her face with her hands in shame.

“And what was this bet?” Asked Billy, face pink arm wrapping around Anne to comfort her a little.

“If you were or weren't together, I’m the only one who said yes.” She grinned and sat down.

Billy and Anne shared a look and then burst out laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the very last one guys, we did it!  
> I had a really good time making this and posting it as well if you want I could do more of these fics as well.  
> I hope you enjoyes it


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